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TREATISES 

ON 

ARCHITECTURE  AND  BUILDING, 

BY  WILLIAM  HOSKING,  F.S.A. 

MASONRY  AND  JOINERY, 

BY  THOMAS  TREDGOLD,  C.E. 

AND 

CARPENTRY, 

BY  THOMAS  YOUNG,  M.D.,  F.R.S. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/treatisesonarchiOOhosk 


TREATISES 


ARCHITECTURE, 

BUILDING,  MASONRY,  JOINERY, 

AND 

CARPENTRY. 


WILLIAM  HOSKING,  THOMAS  TREDGOLD,  AND  THOMAS  YOUNG. 


WITH  THIRTY-SIX  PLATES  ENG-RAVED  ON  STEEL. 


NE  W-YORK  : 

D.  APPLETON  A COMPANY,  200  BROADWAY. 


M.DCCC.LH. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


The  term  Architecture  is  derived  from  the  name  of 
its  professor,  Architect.  It  is  the  art  of  contriving  and 
constructing  buildings ; and  the  thing  produced  is  by 
metonomy  called  by  the  name  of  the  art  which  produces 
it,  as  the  art  itself  is  named  from  its  professor.  The 
word  is  directly  from  the  Latin  architecture i,  irregularly 
formed  from  the  deponent  verb  architector,  which  is  itself 
from  the  Greek  substantive  ag%irtxruv,  Latinized  archi- 
tector, architecto,  and  architectus ; all  of  which  are  used  by 
Latin  authors.  A more  regular  but  less  relevant  deriva- 
tion of  the  Latin  words  architectus  and  architectura  is 
found  in  the  substitution  of  the  participles  of  the  verb  tego, 
to  cover,  &c.  for  the  derivative  of  the  Greek  nv^ai,  to 
build,  &c. 

When  architecture  is  spoken  of  simply,  without  a quali- 
fying adjective,  the  designing  and  building  civil  and  religi- 
ous edifices,  such  as  palaces,  mansions,  theatres,  churches, 
courts,  bridges,  &c.  is  intended ; and  it  is  called  civil,  to 
distinguish  it  from  naval  and  military  architecture.  Al- 
though every  description  of  building  may  thus  have  the 
term  applied  to  it,  it  is  by  common  consent  restricted  to 
such  edifices  as  display  symmetrical  arrangement  in  the 
general  design  and  fitting  proportions  in  its  parts,  with  a 
certain  degree  of  enrichment  effected  by  means  of  cor- 
nices, blocking  courses,  architraves,  or  pillared,  columnar, 
or  arcaded  arrangements.  Architecture  may  indeed  be 
said  to  bear  the  same  analogy  to  building,  that  literature 
does  td  language.  A plain  brick  wall  covered  in  the  ordi- 
nary way  with  bricks  on  their  edges  isnot  architectural, be- 
cause it  is  poor,  rude,  and  unadorned : it  produces  no  pleas- 
ing effect,  and  is  such  as  a totally  uninstructed  workman 
would  construct  merely  to  answer  the  purpose  required  of 
it.  As  man,  however,  is  endowed  by  nature  with  a taste 
for  beauty  and  elegance,  mere  rugged  utility  does  not  de- 
light him ; as  he  becomes  civilized,  he  seeks  to  embellish 
whatever  he  produces,  that  it  may  give  him  positive  in- 
stead of  negative  pleasure,  by  presenting  to  his  sense  of 
vision  what  his  mind  may  dwell  on  with  complacency ; 
and  he  is  thus  disposed  to  avail  himself  of  the  dispositions 
and  decorations  which  constitute  architecture.  It  may  be 
asked,  what  standard  of  beauty  there  is  in  this  art,  on  which 
taste  may  be  formed ; though  it  must  be  obvious,  that,  like 
other  children  of  the  imagination,  such  as  poetry  and  music, 
no  other  can  be  assigned  than  such  compositions  and  modes 
of  arrangement  as  by  their  harmony  and  simplicity  attract 
the  attention  of  the  rudest  mind,  which  is  pleased  without 
being  conscious  why,  and  of  the  most  learned  or  practised, 
which  discovers  in  them  those  proportions  and  peculiari- 
ties of  form  which  always  produce  the  most  pleasing  im- 
pressions, and  appear  to  be  dictated  by  nature.  Painting 
and  sculpture  have,  to  a certain  extent,  their  originals  in 
the  external  works  of  nature,  so  that  the  most  uncultured 
taste  may  be  gratified,  or  otherwise,  with  them,  as  their 
works  are  faithful  or  unfaithful  imitations  ; music  is  more 
artificial,  and  the  taste  must  be  cultivated  to  judge  of  and 
enjoy  its  higher  productions ; but  architecture  is  purely 
conventional,  requiring  a knowledge  of  its  system,  and  a 
mind  informed  as  to  the  principles  on  which  it  depends  for 
beauty,  even  to  its  appreciation.1 

As  it  is  necessary,  in  erecting  a new  edifice  where  an 
old  one  has  stood,  to  remove  all  that  was  falsely  construct- 


ed and  insecure,  if  not  entirely  to  clear  out  the  founda-  History, 
tions ; so  it  is  at  this  time  necessary,  in  writing  a treatise  -y-'w 
on  architecture,  to  show  the  false  grounds  on  which  the 
old  system  is  founded,  and  remove  the  false  impressions 
which  it  has  generally  induced. 

The  earliest  extant  author  on  the  subject  is  Vitruvius, 
who,  being  ignorant  of  any  other  than  his  native  architec- 
ture, which  was  Roman,  and  generally  derived  from  the 
Greek,  concocted  or  adopted  a silly  fable  about  the  origin 
of  building,  and  pretends  to  trace  from  it  the  invention  of 
what  are  called  “ the  orders”  by  the  Greeks ; giving,  how- 
ever, to  each  a separate  fable  of  its  own.  He  professes 
to  give  the  proportions,  arrangements,  and  disposition  of 
the  architectural  works  of  the  latter  people,  and  the  rules 
by  which  they  were  composed.  He  describes  with  con- 
siderable minuteness  various  species  of  temples  and  other 
edifices  of  both  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  endeavours  to 
give  reasons  for  almost  every  thing  connected  with  them. 

His  account  of  the  advance  of  man  from  a state  of  savage 
wildness  to  civilization,  the  discovery  and  acquisition  of 
fire,  and  progress  in  the  art  of  building,  made  by  the  early 
fathers  of  the  human  race,  is  only  surpassed  in  absurdity 
by  his  stories  of  the  invention  and  proportioning  of  the 
various  columnar  ordinances  of  which  the  ancients  made 
use;  if  we  except  perhaps  the  fact,  that  this  crude  system 
has  been  received  and  propagated  throughout  the  civi- 
lized world  ever  since  the  resuscitation  of  the  work,  four 
centuries  ago.  How  could  a man,  who  evidently  knew 
nothing  of  the  early  history  of  the  world,  of  the  Celtic 
monuments,  or  of  the  history  and  architecture  of  Egypt 
and  the  East,  be  supposed  capable  of  describing  the  in- 
ventions and  advances  in  knowledge  of  the  human  race? 

Nor  is  this  all : How  can  Vitruvius  be  received  as  an 
authority,  when  it  is  found  that  he  does  not  correctly  de- 
scribe any  existing  edifice  in  either  Greece  or  Italy,  and 
that  no  example  of  ancient  architecture,  either  Greek  or 
Roman,  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  his  laws  ? This  we 
shall  show  in  its  proper  place,  and  proceed  now  to  take  a 
view  of  the  rise,  progress,  and  history  of  our  subject,  with- 
out reference  to  the  popular  system,  which  is  based  on  such 
fallacious  ground. 

Although  it  is  very  probable  that  men  built  houses  to  Origin  and 
shelter  themselves  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather  history  of' 
before  they  constructed  temples  to  the  divinity,  yet  itarL'hitec- 
must  be  obvious  to  all  who  have  studied  the  early  history ture' 
of  the  human  race  in  connection  with  its  antiquities,  and 
have  considered  the  analogies  afforded  by  the  rude  and 
simple  nations  of  the  world  at  the  present  time,  and  parti- 
cularly by  those  who  occupied  the  western  side  of  the 
Americas  on  the  discovery  of  those  continents,  that 
though  the  art  of  building  may  have  originated  in  the  per- 
sonal wants  of  man,  the  science  of  architecture  was  the 
result  of  his  devotional  feelings  and  tendencies.  In  Egypt 
and  in  India,  in  Greece  and  in  Italy,  in  Gaul  and  in  Bri- 
tain, in  Mexico  and  in  Peru,  structures  connected  with 
the  worship  of  the  divinity  existed,  and  still  exist,  of  the 
earliest  date,  or  rather  of  dates  beyond  the  range  of  posi- 
tive chronological  information ; some  evincing  a greater  and 
others  a less  advance  in  taste  and  refinement,  but  all  re- 
taining some  analogy,  bearing  upon  the  same  point,  and 
tending  to  what  may  be  called  architectural  arrangement. 


* Count  Algarotti,  speaking  of  the  absence  of  any  thing  in  nature  on  which  architecture,  may  be  modelled,  says,  “ with  good  rea- 
son it  may  be  said  to  hold  the  same  place  among  the  arts,  that  metaphysics  does  among  the  sciences.”  ( Opcre  del  Conte  Algarotti, 
edizione  novissima,  tomo  iii.  p.  25.) 


c> 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  there  were  others  in  the  same  country  which  no  longer 
w exist,  that  must  have  surpassed  those  which  do  remain  ; 

and  they  speak  also  of  the  cities  of  Assyria,  as  unparal- 
leled in  the  extent  and  splendour  of  their  edifices,  whose 
sites,  even,  are  not  now  determinable.  The  pyramids, 
however,  mausoleums  of  a nation — and  the  temples,  mo- 
numents of  human  folly — speak  more  strongly  than  any 
historian  can,  and  compel  our  belief  of  what  they  have 
been  by  what  they  are ; whereas  the  others  do  not  exist 
but  in  name.  Nineveh  and  Babylon  were — but  Thebes 
and  Memphis  still  remain.  It  is  strange,  indeed,  that  a 
people  who  displayed  such  energies  in  the  construction 
of  tombs,  pyramids,  and  temples,  should  have  left  no  work 
of  any  description  that  could  be  applied  to  any  really 
useful  purpose.  Denon,  speaking  of  Thebes,  says,  “ Still 
temples — nothing  but  temples — not  a vestige  of  the  hun- 
dred gates,  so  celebrated  in  history ; no  walls,  quays, 
bridges,  baths,  or  theatres ; not  a single  edifice  of  public 
utility  or  convenience.  Notwithstanding  all  the  pains  I 
took  in  the  research,  I could  find  nothing  but  temples, 
walls  covered  with  obscure  emblems,  and  hieroglyphics 
which  attested  the  ascendency  of  the  priesthood,  who 
still  seemed  to  reign  over  the  mighty  ruins,  and  whose 
empire  constantly  haunted  my  imagination.”* 1  Champollion, 
however,  in  his  late  researches,  speaks  of  the  remains  of 
quays,  and  calls  some  of  the  structures  palaces  instead  of 
temples;  but  as  the  former  exist  only  in  connection  with  the 
latter,  they  can  hardly  be  considered  as  any  thing  more 
than  mere  embankments ; and  the  regal  and  hierarchical 
offices  having  been  so  closely  connected  in  the  economy 
of  ancient  Egypt,  it  is  of  little  or  no  consequence  to  our 
position  whether  the  same  edifices  be  called  palaces  or 
temples.  Diodorus  Siculus  says,  in  one  place,  that 
“ Busiris,”  believed  to  be  one  of  the  Pharaohs  who  per- 
secuted Israel,  “ built  that  great  city  which  the  Egyp- 
tians call  Heliopolis  and  the  Greeks  Thebes,  and  adorned 
it  with  stately  public  buildings  and  magnificent  temples, 
with  rich  revenues and  that  “ he  built  all  the  private 
houses,  some  four,  and  others  five  stories  high.”2  Shortly 
after,  speaking  of  Memphis,  to  account  for  the  splendour 
with  which  the  Egyptians  built  their  tombs,  and  the  com- 
parative meanness  of  their  houses,  the  same  author  says, 
“ They  call  the  houses  of  the  living  inns,  because  they 
stay  in  them  but  a little  while  ; but  the  sepulchres  of  the 
dead  they  call  everlasting  habitations,  because  they  abide 
in  the  grave  to  infinite  generations.  Therefore  they  are 
not  very  curious  in  the  building  of  their  houses ; but  in 
beautifying  their  sepulchres  they  leave  nothing  undone 
that  can  be  thought  of.”  Strabo  also  speaks  of  a splendid 
dwelling  which  was  erected  for  the  priests  at  Heliopolis, 
but  that  probably  was  one  of  the  sacred  palaces  just  re- 
ferred to  ; for  none  of  the  ancient  writers  describe  the  do- 
mestic structures  of  the  Egyptians,  from  personal  know- 
ledge of  them,  as  being  worthy  of  any  notice ; and  that 
assertion  of  Strabo  is  too  loose  and  unsupported  by  con- 
temporary authority  or  analogy  to  deserve  confidence  of 
itself.  To  the  statement  of  Diodorus,  that  private  houses 
were  built  to  four  and  five  stories  high,  we  can  give  no 
credence  whatever;  for  the  construction  of  edifices  in 
tiers  or  stories  was  very  imperfectly  understood  even  in 
his  time,  which  was  many  centuries  after  the  destruction 
even  of  Thebes ; and  none  of  the  existing  remains  of  that 
city  give  the  slightest  indication  of  a second  story,  or  in- 
deed of  aptitude  to  construct  one,  except  the  rude  land- 
ings in  some  of  the  propylma.  Herodotus  says  that  the 
Egyptians  were  the  first  who  erected  altars,  shrines,  and 


temples ; but  of  their  private  houses  he  says  nothing ; History, 
neither  does  he  describe  any  of  the  temples  as  they  ex- 
isted  in  his  time  in  Egypt ; so  that  he  in  fact  affords  no 
assistance  in  determining  the  comparative  antiquity  of  the 
various  architectural  structures  which  remain  to  the  pre- 
sent time  in  that  country.  Indeed  the  ancient  historians 
and  topographers  speak  for  the  most  part  so  wildly  of 
dates  and  dimensions,  that  they  are,  at  the  best,  most  un- 
satisfactory, if  not  fallacious,  guides;  and  in  the  present 
case,  that  of  Egypt,  the  style  of  architecture  is  so  uni- 
form, or  so  imperfectly  understood,  that  no  argument  can 
with  safety  be  drawn  from  it,  as  there  may  in  other  cases. 

In  Hamilton’s  JEgyptiaca,  the  author  says,  with  reference 
to  this  question : “ In  Egyptian  architecture  there  is  an 
uniformity  of  structure,  both  in  the  ornaments  and  in  the 
masses,  which,  if  unassisted  by  other  circumstances,  re- 
duces us  to  mere  conjecture ; and  that  not  only  for  the 
difference  of  a century  or  two,  but  perhaps  for  a thousand 
years.”3  Again : “ The  monuments  of  antiquity  in  Upper 
Egypt  present  a very  uniform  appearance ; and  his  first 
impressions  incline  the  traveller  to  attribute  them  to  the 
same  or  nearly  the  same  epoch.  The  plans  and  disposi- 
tions of  the  temples  hear  throughout  a great  resemblance 
to  one  another.  The  same  character  of  hieroglyphics, 
the  same  forms  of  the  divinity,  bearing  the  same  symbols 
and  worshipped  in  the  same  manner,  are  sculptured  on 
their  walls  from  Hermopolis  to  Philae.  They  are  built  of 
the  same  species  of  stone ; very  little  difference  is  dis- 
cernible in  the  degrees  of  excellence  ofl workmanship,  or 
the  quality  of  the  materials ; and  where  human  force  has 
not  been  evidently  employed  to  destroy  the  buildings,  they 
are  all  in  the  same  state  of  preservation  or  decay.”4  But 
we  are  fortunately  now  about  to  be  rid  of  that  difficulty 
by  the  erudition  and  industry  of  those  learned  men  who 
have  given  their  attention  to  the  hieroglyphic  literature 
of  the  Egyptians.  M.  Champollion  professes  to  have  de- 
termined the  date  of  every  monument  of  antiquity  in  that 
country  which  is  inscribed,  by  the  inscriptions,  which  he 
has  qualified  himself  to  read.  As  yet,  however,  we  are 
not  in  possession  of  the  whole  result  of  his  discoveries. 

Hypogea,  spea,  or  caves  formed  by  excavation,  are  found 
of  earlier  date  than  any  existing  structures.  Internally 
they  present  square  piers,  which  were  left  to  support  the 
superincumbent  mass  of  mountain  or  rock  when  their 
magnitude  rendered  it  necessary.  These  were  originally 
tombs  ; and  the  cave  of  Machpelah,  of  which  Abraham 
made  the  purchase  as  a burying-place  for  his  family,  was, 
doubtless,  one  of  that  kind.  Oratories  or  chapels  were 
afterwards  made  in  the  same  manner,  but,  it  would  ap- 
pear, not  until  columnar  architecture  had  come  into  use ; 
for  their  entrances  are  generally  sculptured  into  the  re- 
semblance of  the  front  of  a rude  portico,  or  an  actual  por- 
tico or  pronaos  is  constructed  before  them.  Many  such 
are  found  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  in  its  course  through 
Nubia  and  Egypt.  At  Ibrim,  which  the  Greeks  call 
Primis,  in  the  former  country,  there  are  several  of  these 
cavern  temples,  the  earliest  of  which,  according  to  M. 
Champollion,  bears  date  of  the  reign  of  one  of  the  Pha- 
raohs, who  was  contemporaneous  with  Abraham,  or  his 
son  Isaac,  or  about  eighteen  centuries  before  Christ ; the 
latest  is  of  the  time  of  Ilhameses  Sethos,  the  Sesostris  ot 
Greek  history.  To  some  of  the  cavern  tombs  and  temples 
in  Upper  Egypt  M.  Champollion  accords  even  a still 
higher  degree  of  antiquity.  The  earliest  columnar  struc- 
tures which  are  found  within  the  same  range  of  country 
do  not  appear  to  bear  a higher  date  than  that  ot  the 


4 Voyage  dans  la  Basse  ct  la  Haute  Egypte,  p.  170.  Par  V.  Denon.  3 JEgyptiaca,  by  Wm.  Hamilton,  Esq.  F.  S.  A.  Part  I.  p-  200. 

1 Diod.  Sic.  lib.  i.  cap.  iv.  4 Ibid.  p.  10. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  earliest  kings  or  Pharaohs  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  of 
'Manetho,  which  began  about  the  time  of  the  Jewish  pa- 
triarch Abraham,  and  ended  with  the  Pharaoh  from  whom 
his  descendants  escaped  under  the  conduct  of  Moses. 
The  temple  at  Amada,  to  which  we  have  already  referred, 
is  of  the  time  of  Moeris,  who  was  contemporary  with  the 
patriarch  Jacob,  and  consists  of  twelve  square  piers  or 
pillars,  and  four  columns,  which  possess  the  form  and  cha- 
racter of  the  Greek  Doric,  and  may,  it  is  suggested,  be 
called  protodoric.  The  same  intention,  if  it  may  be  so 
called,  is  found  in  others  of  the  early  monuments,  but  in 
none  so  perfect  as  in  this,  as  almost  all  the  structures  of 
ancient  Egypt  were  either  destroyed  or  seriously  damag- 
ed by  the  Persians  at  the  time  of  their  invasion  under 
Cambyses ; and  they  are  supposed  not  to  have  ascended 
the  Nile  much  above  Psalcis  or  Dakke,  but  to  have  turned 
off'  by  the  way  across  the  desert  to  Ethiopia,  so  that  the 
temple  at  Amada,  which  is  considerably  above  Dakke, 
escaped. 

Of  all  the  Pharaohs,  Sesostris,  the  first  of  the  nineteenth 
dynasty,  was  the  most  distinguished  for  the  great  and  ex- 
tensive works  he  executed  in  architecture.  Most  of  the 
existing  ruins  in  Egypt,  anterior  to  the  Persian  invasion,  are 
attributed  to  that  monarch  by  M.  Champollion.  The  im- 
mense ruins  at  Thebes,  which  have  been  by  turns  called  the 
Memnonium  and  the  tomb  of  Osymandyas,  and  are  popular- 
ly called  Medinet  Abou,  are  proved  by  that  gentleman  to  be 
those  of  the  Palatial  Temple  of  Rhameses  the  Great,  or  Se- 
sostris, and  which  he  therefore  calls  the  Rhamesseion,  the 
ruins  at  Luxor  being  those  of  the  Memnonium  ; that  edifice 
or  series  of  edifices  having  been  constructed  by  Amenophis 
Memnon,  of  the  eighteenth  dynasty,  one  of  the  good  and 
beneficent  princes  by  whom  the  children  of  Israel  were 
protected  during  their  sojourn  in  Egypt.  The  magnificent 
structure  at  the  village  of  Carnack,  within  the  same  city, 
appears  however  to  excel  all  the  rest  in  extent  and 
grandeur,  and  is  at  least  their  equal  in  antiquity.  It  is 
generally  known  as  the  temple  of  Carnack,  but  it  has 
been  distinguished  as  that  of  Jupiter  Ammon.  It  bears 
inscribed  the  name  of  Thothmosis  II.,  the  predecessor 
of  Amenophis  Memnon.  From  the  existing  remains  of 
Thebes,  and  the  relations  of  historians  combined,  that 
city  may  be  assumed  to  have  attained  its  highest  degree 
of  splendour  in  the  time  of  Sesostris ; few  of  the  ruins  it 
presents  being  of  later  date  than  the  time  of  that  monarch. 
This  being  admitted,  and  we  believe  it  can  hardly  be  de- 
nied, it  must  be  admitted  also  that  the  science  of  archi- 
tecture, and  the  practice  of  the  mechanical  arts,  were  al- 
ready well  understood ; for  the  composition  of  the  monu- 
ments displays  an  exquisite  combination  of  simplicity  and 
harmony,  which  produce  the  finest  effects  of  beauty  and 
grandeur;  while  their  construction  is  the  apparent  result 
of  perfection  in  the  use  of  mechanical  powers.  All  the 
Pharaonic  monuments,  indeed,  throughout  Egypt  and 
Nubia,  are  wonders  of  science  and  art.  The  structures  of 
Ombos,  Apollinopolis  Magna,  and  Latopolis,  between 
Thebes  and  the  cataract,  M.  Champollion  determines  to 
be  generally  of  the  age  of  the  Ptolemies,  and  some  even 
of  the  Roman  dominion  ; all,  however,  of  these  of  compa- 
ratively modern  date  are  evidently  restorations ; others, 
probably  of  the  earliest  ages,  having  occupied  the  same 
sites.  Indeed  M.  Champollion  asserts  generally  that  the 
Ptolemies,  and  the  Ethiopian  Ergamenes  himself,  only  re- 
built temples  where  they  had  already  stood  in  the  times 
of  the  Pharaohs,  and  to  the  same  divinities  that  had  al- 
ways been  worshipped  there.  He  goes  on  to  say,  that  the 
religious  system  of  this  people  was  such  a complete  whole, 
so  connected  in  all  its  parts,  and  fixed  from  time  imme- 
morial in  so  absolute  and  precise  a manner,  that  the  do- 
minion of  the  Greeks  and  of  the  Romans  did  not  produce 


any  innovation ; the  Ptolemies  and  the  Caesars  only  re- 
stored in  Nubia  what  the  Persians  had  destroyed,  and  re-' 
built  temples  where  they  had  formerly  stood,  and  dedi- 
cated them  to  the  same  gods. 

Of  the  arrangements  of  an  Egyptian  temple  we  shall 
speak  when  we  come  to  treat  of  Egyptian  architecture  as 
a style.  In  construction  the  Egyptians  appear  to  have 
used  wrought  stones  at  a very  early  period : this  probably 
was  induced  by  the  still  earlier  habit  of  excavating  rocks 
to  form  tombs ; for  the  walls  in  their  oldest  structures  are 
composed  of  rectangularly  cut  blocks  in  parallel  courses ; 
whereas  we  shall  find  that  the  most  ancient  specimens  of 
walling  in  Greece  and  Italy  are  not  so.  In  the  Pharaonic 
monuments,  besides  walls  built  in  parallel  courses  of 
wrought  stone,  we  find  squared  piers  also;  and  frequently, 
in  the  same  structure  with  them,  the  peculiarly  formed 
tumescent  column  with  a bulbous  capital  or  head,  covered 
with  an  abacus  or  square  tablet,  corresponding  with  the 
size  of  the  piers,  and  warranting  the  supposition  that  that 
species  of  column  is  a mere  refinement  on  the  simple 
square  pillar.  What  dictated  its  singular  form  must  re- 
main matter  of  speculation.  The  cylindrical  column  with 
a bell-shaped  capital  was  the  next  advance,  and  that  also 
is  found  in  the  same  structures,  though  not  in  the  simplest 
and  earliest  of  them,  in  which  piers  occur.  Terminal  or 
Caryatic  figures  are  common  in  those  early  works  also-, 
not  absolutely  supporting  an  entablature,  but  placed  be- 
fore piers  which  do,  and  having  the  appearance  of  doing 
it  themselves  when  seen  in  front.  Bold,  massive,  rectan- 
gular architraves  extend  from  pier  to  pier  and  from  co- 
lumn to  column,  and  are  generally  surmounted  externally 
by  a deep  coved  coping,  or  cornice,  with  a large  corded 
and  torus-formed  moulding  intervening.  This  masks  the 
ends  of  the  stones  which  are  placed  transversely  on  the 
architraves  to  form  the  ceiling  internally,  the  whole  be- 
ing flushed  square  on  the  top,  and  forming  a flat  terrace 
or  floor.  The  pyramidal  form  of  the  moles  or  propylaea, 
peculiar  to  Egyptian  temples,  may  have  been  suggested 
by  the  pyramids,  as  neither  that  form  nor  those  adjuncts 
to  a temple  appear  to  have  been  used  before  the  period 
at  which  it  is  supposed  the  former  were  constructed. 
The  grandeur  and  dignity  inherent  to  that  form  would  in- 
deed hardly  be  suspected  till  its  appearance  in  the  pyra- 
mids themselves ; and  certainly  the  impression  of  its  ef- 
fect must  have  been  strong,  to  induce  men  to  seek  it  in  a 
truncated  pyramid  under  a very  acute  angle,  as  in  the 
propylaea,  relying  on  the  tendency  of  its  outline  alone.  It 
was  gradually,  too,  that  this  tendency  was  generally  ap- 
plied, for  in  the  earliest  Pharaonic  structures  the  vertical 
outline  is  most  common,  except  in  the  propylaea,  where 
they  exist ; and  in  the  structures  of  the  Ptolemies  the 
inclined  outline  pervades  every  thing.  The  monolithic 
obelisk  is  of  Egyptian  origin  also.  Its  tapering  form  may 
be  the  consequence  of  the  impression  the  pyramidal  ten- 
dency had  occasioned,  though  perhaps  the  object  itself  is 
the  representative  of  the  single  stone  by  which  religious 
feeling  appears  first  to  have  expressed  itself.  Obelisks 
were  set  up  by  the  Egyptians,  sometimes  in  the  courts  or 
atria  of  their  temples,  and  sometimes  before  the  entrances 
to  them. 

Of  all  the  architectural  works  of  the  Egyptians,  how- 
ever, none  have  excited  so  much  the  wonder  and  curiosity 
of  men  as  the  pyramids  themselves ; not  in  consequence  of 
any  particular  beauty  in  their  composition,  or  ingenuity  in 
their  construction,  but  simply  because  of  their  immense 
magnitude,  and  unknown  use,  and  antiquity.  Denon  makes 
the  following  observation  on  his  first  visit  to  the  great  py- 
ramid of  Gizeh,  at  Memphis.  “ If  we  reflect  upon  these 
pyramids,  we  shall  be  inclined  to  think  the  pride  that 
constructed  them  greater  even  than  these  masses  them- 


Historv. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  selves,  and  shall  scarcely  know  whether  to  reprobate  most 
the  insolent  tyranny  which  commanded,  or  the  stupid  ser- 
vility of  the  people  which  executed,  the  undertaking. 
None  but  sacerdotal  despots  would  ever  have  undertaken 
them,  and  none  but  a stupid  fanatical  people  would  ever 
have  built  them. ...The  most  honourable  reason  that  can 
be  assigned  for  their  erection  is  the  emulation  of  man  to 
excel  the  works  of  nature  in  immensity  and  duration,  and 
in  this  project  he  has  not  been  altogether  unsuccessful. 
The  mountains  near  the  pyramids  are  not  so  high,  and 
have  suffered  more  from  time  than  the  pyramids  them- 
selves.”1 But  Memphis  itself  was  of  late  foundation  in  com- 
parison with  other  cities  on  the  Nile.  According  to  Pro- 
fessor Heeren,2  civilization  descended  by  the  Nile  from 
Ethiopia  with  the  caste  of  priests  who  brought  with  them 
the  worship  of  Ammon,  Osiris,  and  Phtha  (the  Jupiter, 
Bacchus,  and  Vulcan  of  the  Greeks),  and  “ the  spread  of 
this  worship,  which  was  always  connected  with  temples, 
affords  the  most  evident  vestiges  of  the  spread  of  the 
caste  itself ; and  those  vestiges,  combined  with  the  records 
of  the  Egyptians,  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  this  caste 
was  a tribe  which  migrated  from  the  south,  above  Meroe, 
in  Ethiopia,  and,  by  the  establishment  of  inland  colonies 
around  the  temples  founded  by  them,  gradually  extended 
and  made  the  worship  of  their  gods  the  dominant  religion 
in  Egypt.  Proofs  of  the  accuracy  of  this  theory,”  he  as- 
serts, “ may  be  deduced  from  monuments  and  express 
testimonies  concerning  the  origin  of  Thebes  and  Ammon 
from  Meroe ; that  it  might  indeed  have  been  inferred 
from  the  preservation  of  the  worship  of  Ammon  in  this 
last  place.”  The  same  author  goes  on  to  say,  that  “ Thebes 
was,  if  not  the  most,  one  of  the  most,  ancient  cities 
of  Egypt and  that  “ Memphis  and  other  cities  of  the 
vale  of  the  Nile  are  known  to  have  been  founded  from 
Thebes.”  Now  Thebes  exists  to  the  present  time  in  the 
ruins  of  her  magnificent  temples,  the  works  of  the  Pha- 
raohs, but  without  the  vestige  of  a pyramid,  so  that  it 
may  be  concluded  that  none  was  ever  built  there ; and 
Memphis  may  be  said  to  exist  in  the  everlasting  pyramids 
of  Gizeh  and  Saccharah,  which  occupy  two  of  its  extre- 
mities; but  no  indication  remains  of  the  existence  of  a 
temple  of  any  kind:  indeed  the  exact  site  of  the  city 
cannot  be  determined  except  by  the  pyramids.  Herodo- 
tus, however,  speaks  of  temples  at  Memphis,  particularly 
of  that  of  Vulcan  or  Phtha;  but  certainly  no  vestige  of 
such  has  existed  for  a long  period  of  time  within  that  vi- 
cinity. Memphis  was  a great  and  ancient  capital,  and 
why  should  it  not  retain  some  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  temples  in  it?  But  Thebes  was  a greater  and  more  an- 
cient capital,  and  indeed  the  metropolis  of  all  Egypt;  and 
why  has  it  no  pyramids  ? These  things  are  equally  un- 
accountable and  inexplicable,  affording  groundwork  for 
almost  any  theory,  but  giving  perfect  support  to  none. 
Mr  Hamilton,  in  his  JEgyptiaca , before  quoted,  places 
Memphis  considerably  further  south,  where  some  ruins 
have  been  discovered  which  may  be  thought  to  give  a 
colour  to  his  supposition.  But  the  ruins  are  of  very  in- 
considerable extent,  and  are  all  prostrate,  so  that  nothing 
can  be  positively  determined  by  them ; and  the  statement 
of  Pliny  as  to  the  relative  distances  of  the  Nile  and  the 
city  from  the  pyramids  of  Gizeh  being  proved  to  be  cor- 
rect in  the  one,  may  be  admitted  in  the  other.  If  Hero- 
dotus’s account  of  the  building  of  the  pyramids  be  receiv- 
ed, they  are  of  comparatively  modern  date,  the  oldest  hav- 
ing been  constructed  several  generations  after  the  time 
of  Sesostris,  under  whom  Thebes  attained  its  highest 
degree  of  splendour;  but  this  would  leave  unaccounted 
for  the  tendency  to  pyramidal  forms  in  Egyptian  archi- 


tecture before  referred  to,  unless  every  example  exhi-  History, 
biting  that  tendency  were  itself  referred  to  a date  poste- 
rior  to  that  assigned  to  Cheops  and  Cephron,  which  can- 
not be  done  in  accordance  with  the  assertions  of  M. 
Champollion  as  to  the  structures  of  Thebes,  Elephantina, 
and  Nubia  generally. 

From  its  immense  size,  the  dimensions  of  the  great  py- 
ramid of  Gizeh,  at  Memphis,  are  variously  given  by  the 
various  persons  who  have  measured  it.  M.  Nouet,  who 
was  of  the  French  commission  in  Egypt,  and  had  perhaps 
the  best  opportunity  of  being  correct,  determined  its  base 
to  be  a square  whose  side  is  716  French  or  768  English 
feet  in  length,  occupying  about  the  area  of  the  great 
square  of  Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields  in  London ; and  its  height 
421  French  or  4-52  English  feet,  or  about  one  third  as 
high  again  as  St  Paul’s  cathedral.  It  is  built  in  regular 
courses  or  layers  of  stone,  which  vary  in  thickness  from 
two  to  three  feet,  each  receding  from  the  one  below  it,  to 
the  number  of  202 ; though  even  this  is  variously  stated 
from  that  number  to  260,  as  indeed  the  height  is  given  by 
various  modern  travellers  at  from  444  to  625  feet.  And 
the  ancient  writers  differ  as  widely,  both  among  them- 
selves and  with  the  moderns.  On  the  top  course  the  area 
is  about  10  English  feet  square,  though  it  is  believed  to 
have  been  originally  two  courses  higher,  which  would 
bring  it  to  the  smallest  that  in  regular  gradation  it  could 
be.  It  is  a solid  mass  of  stone,  with  the  exception  of  a 
narrow  corridor  leading  to  a small  chamber  in  its  centre ; 
and  a larger  ascending  corridor  or  gallery,  from  about  half 
the  distance  of  the  first  to  another  larger  chamber  at  a 
considerable  distance,  vertically  above  the  former,  in 
which  there  is  a single  granite  sarcophagus,  not  more  than 
large  enough  for  one  body,  putting  the  intention  of  the 
structure  clearly  beyond  doubt.  The  other  pyramids  dif- 
fer from  that  of  Cheops  (as  the  largest  is  called)  in  size, 
and  slightly  in  form  and  mode  of  construction,  some  having 
the  angles  of  the  steps  or  courses  of  stone  worked  away 
to  a plain  surface,  and  some  not  diminishing  in  a right  line. 

One  of  the  middle-sized  pyramids  is  unlike  all  the  rest,  in 
being  neither  smooth  nor  in  small  steps,  but  in  six  large 
steps  or  stories,  apparently  of  equal  height,  and  dimi- 
nishing gradually.  But  the  circumstance  which  most  dis- 
tinguishes it  is,  that  it  is  constructed  of  rude  unshapen 
blocks  of  stone,  cemented  together  with  a very  large  pro- 
portion of  mortar.  Another  is  of  unburnt  brick,  and  has 
consequently  become  ruinous  and  mis-shapen. 

The  famous  labjwinth,  of  which  Herodotus  speaks  as 
having  been  built  by  the  twelve  kings  of  Egypt,  beyond 
the  lake  Moeris,  is  believed  by  Denon,  after  examination 
of  the  described  site,  to  be  little  better  than  fabulous,  and 
that  the  historian  was  imposed  on  by  the  priests,  from 
whom  he  derived  most  of  his  information.  He  says,  in- 
deed, that  he  saw  and  examined  it  himself;  but  his  de- 
scription is  so  vague,  that  an  architect  who  should  endea- 
vour to  make  a design  from  it,  would  be  greatly  embarrass- 
ed. As  we  can  therefore  derive  no  information  from  it 
with  regard  to  architecture,  it  need  not  be  further  dis- 
cussed here.  It  has  been  suggested  as  probable,  and  in- 
deed the  opinion  has  been  maintained,  that  the  pyramids 
stand  over  immense  substructures;  that  their  areas  are 
occupied  by  chambers,  in  which  may  be  found  the  arcana 
of  Egyptian  lore,  of  which  they  are  the  depositories.  If 
it  really  be  so,  may  not  the  labyrinths  just  referred  to 
have  been  under  the  pyramid,  which  the  historian  says 
was  constructed  at  the  point  where  the  labyrinth  termi- 
nates, instead  of  near  it?  His  expression  is  so  ambiguous, 
that  it  leaves  room  for  a suggestion  of  the  kind. 

Of  the  domestic  architecture  of  the  Egyptians  we  have 


* Voyage  dans  la  Basse  et  la  Haute  Egypte,  p.  77-  Par  V.  Denon. 


5 Manual  cf  Ancient  History , p.  58. 


ARCHITECTURE.  f) 


History,  no  knowledge  whatever.  The  statements  of  the  ancient 
writers  on  the  subject  have  been  alread}r  mentioned  ; but 
supposing  them  to  be  more  explicit,  and  more  in  confor- 
mity with  probability,  than  they  really  are,  without  exist- 
ing remains  we  could  form  but  a very  imperfect  idea  of 
what  it  was.  Reasoning  from  analogy,  and  the  slight  in- 
formation of  historians,  we  should  conclude  that  the  habi- 
tations of  the  Egyptians  were  of  a very  unpretending  de- 
scription. The  already  quoted  statement  of  Diodorus 
Siculus,  that  “ they  are  not  very  curious  in  the  building 
of  their  houses,”  even  in  his  time,  after  their  long  inter- 
course with  Greece,  and  their  more  recent  connection 
with  luxurious  Rome ; added  to  the  fact,  that  no  indica- 
tions of  domestic  structures  exist  in  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try, and  that  the  presumed  habitations  of  the  priests,  in 
the  ancient  temples,  are  small  and  inconvenient  cells ; and 
all  these  things,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  mildness  of 
the  climate  and  the  salubrity  of  the  atmosphere,  we  think 
it  must  be  admitted,  warrant  the  conclusion. 

No  style  of  architecture  of  which  we  have  any  know- 
ledge is  so  well  qualified  to  produce  impressive  effects  on 
the  mind  as  the  Egyptian.  The  mere  assumption  of  its 
forms,  however,  is  not  sufficient  to  produce  its  effects ; 
and  drawing  is  more  incompetent  to  convey  an  idea  of  it 
than  perhaps  of  any  thing  else  in  art.  To  this  point  the 
authors  of  the  great  work  of  the  French  Institute  on  the 
antiquities  of  Egypt  bear  testimony  in  strong  language. 
Speaking  of  the  incompetence  of  drawings  to  convey  just 
ideas  of  the  grandeur,  magnificence,  and  beauty  of  the 
Egyptian  temples,  and  other  remains  of  antiquity,  they  say, 
“ Despite  the  care  we  have  given  ourselves  to  describe 
the  Egyptian  monuments,  we  cannot  even  hope  that  we 
have  succeeded  in  giving  to  others  the  ideas  which  we 
ourselves  received  from  actual  views  and  present  contem- 
plation of  them;  for  there  are  things  which  drawings  and 
descriptions  cannot  convey.  Geometrical  drawings  are 
without  doubt  quite  competent  to  show  the  form  and 
proportions  of  an  edifice,  its  disposition  and  distribution ; 
but  far  indeed  are  they  from  giving  satisfactory  ideas  of 
the  elegance  and  effect  of  structures.  Frequently  we  had 
to  regret  how  much  of  the  beauty  of  the  original  was  lost 
in  its  geometrical  representation  on  paper ; for  what  in 
execution  was  light  and  graceful,  often  in  the  geometrical 
drawings  appeared  heavy  and  inelegant.”1 

The  materials  used  in  the  construction  of  the  Egyptian 
architectural  monuments  are,  for  the  most  part,  granite, 
breccia,  sandstone,  and  unburnt  brick.  The  granite  was 
principally  supplied  by  the-  quarries  at  Elephantina  and 
Syene,  for  which  the  Nile  offered  a ready  mode  of  con- 
veyance ; some  species  were  brought  down  the  river  from 
Ethiopia,  but  we  do  not  find  that  the  materials  were  at 
any  time  brought  from  any  other  foreign  country.  It  may 
be  remarked,  too,  that  in  the  earliest  structures  the  com- 
mon gres  or  sandstone  is  principally  employed.  Excepting 
the  obelisks  and  some  few  of  the  propylsea,  all  the  temples 
at  Thebes  are  of  that  material.  In  Lower  Egypt,  on  the 
contrary,  and  in  the  works  of  later  date  generally,  almost 
every  thing  is  constructed  of  granite. 

Persian,  Herodotus  informs  us  that  the  ancient  Persians  had 
Assyrian,  neither  statues,  temples,  nor  altars ; and  Diodorus  Siculus 
anrl  Phce-  affjrms  that  the  palaces  0f  Persepolis  and  Susa  were  not 
architec-  huilt  till  after  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses,  and 
ture.  that  they  were  constructed  by  architects  of  that  nation. 

In  this  case,  as  in  that  of  India,  we  are  at  a great  loss  for 
evidence.  The  Persepolitan  remains,  though  frequently 
visited  and  slightly  sketched,  have  not  been  explored  and 
delineated  by  such  men  as  Stuart  and  Revett,  or  the 


authors  of  the  great  French  work  we  have  so  often  allud-  History, 
ed  to.  That  the  Persian  style,  though  very  different  in 
particulars,  does  bear  a relation  to  the  Egyptian  family, 
however,  is  very  evident.  Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter,  in  his 
travels  in  the  East,  says  that  the  first  impression  he  re- 
ceived in  his  first  walk  among  the  ruins  of  Persepolis  was, 
that  “ in  mass  and  in  detail  they  bore  a strong  resem- 
blance to  the  architectural  taste  of  Egypt.”2  Neverthe- 
less, there  is  a strong  probability  that  the  Persian  is  itself 
an  original  style,  and  that  the  resemblance  is  merely  for- 
tuitous, similar  results  arising  from  the  same  causes,  as  in 
Egypt  and  India ; for  the  eastern  parts  of  that  country 
are  believed  to  have  been  the  earliest  seat  of  the  human 
race.  Professor  Heeren  says  of  Persia,  “ it  cannot  be 
doubted,  that  long  before  the  rise  of  the  Persian  power, 
mighty  kingdoms  existed  in  these  regions,  and  particular- 
ly in  the  eastern  part  of  Ractria ; yet  of  those  kingdoms 
we  have  by  no  means  a consistent  or  chronological  his- 
tory— nothing  but  a few  fragments,  probably  of  dynasties 
which  ruled  in  Media  properly  so  called,  immediately 
previous  to  the  Persians  ;”3  from  whom  the  style  of  archi- 
tecture may  be  derived,  though  indeed  we  know  of  no  re- 
mains of  earlier  date  than  those  which  are  properly  called 
Persian.  But  we  may  be  said  to  know  nothing  of  Bac- 
tria ; it  may,  and  probably  does,  rival  Elora,  Salsette,  and 
the  banks  of  the  Nile,  in  primitive  specimens  of  architec- 
ture. 

We  have  neither  historical  nor  archaeological  informa- 
tion that  can  be  depended  on  to  prove  what  the  state  or 
style  of  architecture  was  among  the  ancient  Assyrians. 

Lucian  says,  however,  that  their  temples  were  less  ancient 
than  those  of  Egypt.  The  ruins  believed  to  be  those  of 
the  great  capital  of  Babylonia  present  nothing  but  shape- 
less masses  of  brick,  from  which  no  idea  whatever  can  be 
formed  as  to  the  style  of  architecture,  or  the  progress  it 
had  made  in  that  country ; but  some  cylindrical  and  other 
seals  and  fragments,  in  terra  cotta,  lately  found  by  excava- 
tion among  those  ruins,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  are 
sufficiently  in  accordance  with  the  rest  of  the  eastern  an- 
tiquities to  be  received  as  evidence  of  the  general  assimi- 
lation of  its  style  of  design  with  that  which  was  common 
to  the  neighbouring  nations. 

The  Phoenicians,  we  are  told  by  Lucian,  built  in  the 
Egyptian  style ; but  their  country  retains  no  memorials  of 
its  ancient  architecture  by  which  we  might  confirm  or 
correct  his  information.  Doubtless  Carthage  and  the 
other  colonies  of  Phoenicia  followed  their  parent  country 
in  this  particular. 

As  far  as  we  can  judge  from  the  trifling  documents  we 
possess  of  the  architecture  of  the  ancient  Mexicans  and 
Peruvians,  it  was  of  a rude  but  massive  character,  and  may 
be  thought  also  to  resemble  the  early  architecture  of  In- 
dia, Egypt,  and  Persia  more  than  we  can  see  any  reason 
for,  except  in  the  tendency  of  the  mind  of  man  to  the 
same  result  when  he  is  placed  under  similar  circum- 
stances. An  impression  to  this  effect  appears  to  have 
been  made  on  Humboldt,  who,  when  speaking  of  a pyra- 
midal mass  of  ancient  Mexico,  says,  “ It  is  impossible  to 
read  the  descriptions  which  Herodotus  and  Diodorus 
Siculus  have  left  us  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Relus,  without 
being  struck  with  the  resemblance  of  that  Babylonian 
monument  to  the  teocallis  of  Anahuac.”4 

It  is  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  wants  and  fan- 
cies of  man  lead  him  to  nearly  the  same  results  as  he  be- 
comes civilized,  without  communication  and  consequent 
imitation,  that  the  plans  given  by  Sir  William  Chambers, 
of  Chinese  public  and  private  buildings,  might  be  taken. 


1 Description  de  V Egypte,  vol.  i.  p.  292. 

* Travels  in  Georyia , Persia , fyc.  by  Sir  It.  K.  Porter,  vol.  L p.  529. 


3 Manual  of  Ancient  History,  p.  26'. 

4 Humboldt’s  Personal  Narrative , voL  i.  p 82. 


10 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Jewish 

architec- 

ture. 


History,  at  the  first  glance,  for  either  Hindoo,  Greek,  Roman,  or 
Moresco — of  course  not  considering  magnitude  of  parts, 
but  general  forms  and  arrangements.  Indeed,  the  remark 
may  be  extended  beyond  the  mere  plans ; for  all  have,  to 
a certain  extent,  insulated  columns  placed  equidistant,  and 
crowned  with  an  entablature  ; and  the  general  appearance 
of  many  Chinese  buildings  is  quite  Moorish. 

Architecture  was  not  likely  to  flourish  among  the  shep- 
herd tribes  of  Israel.  It  is  in  agricultural  and  commercial 
countries,  such  as  Egypt  and  Greece,  that  its  noblest 
works  are  produced,  and  not  among  the  nomades  of  Ara- 
bia and  Palestine.  Saul,  the  first  king  of  Israel,  appears 
to  have  had  no  settled  place  of  abode  ; and  the  most  sa- 
cred ceremonies  of  the  Jewish  religion  were  performed  at 
Gilgal,  where  was  the  temple  of  unhewn  stones  set  up 
by  Joshua  on  taking  possession  of  the  promised  land,  and 
making  a covenant  between  God  and  the  people,  until 
the  building  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  in  the  place  ren- 
dered holy  by  Abraham’s  great  sacrifice.  Saul  himself 
was  confirmed  in  the  kingdom  at  Gilgal,  and  there  the 
nation  swore  allegiance  to  him  with  sacrifices  to  the  Al- 
mighty ; but  as  yet  nothing  existed  there  in  which  to  per- 
form the  rites,  but  the  ancient  Celtic  structure  to  which 
we  have  alluded.  After  the  division  of  the  tribes  into  two 
kingdoms,  a splendid  temple  was  erected  on  the  site  of 
Gilgal,  in  Mount  Gerizim,  as  the  national  temple  of  the 
kingdom  of  Israel.  Like  his  predecessor  on  the  throne, 
David  appears  to  have  been  but  indifferently  lodged  till 
towards  the  end  of  his  reign,  when  he  is  said  to  have 
built  himself  a house;  and  until  the  temple  was  built  in 
the  following  reign,  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  never  in 
a fixed  place ; — it  was  at  one  time  in  a private  house,  at 
another  in  captivity  among  the  Philistines ; and,  indeed, 
King  David  expressed  his  shame  that  he  had  a house  of 
cedar,  whilst  the  ark  of  the  Lord  still  dwelt  in  a tent. 
These  things,  and  the  fact  that  Solomon  sent  to  Tyre  for 
workmen,  and  indeed  for  an  architect  also,  are,  we  think,- 
conclusive  evidence,  that  in  whatever  state  architecture 
was  among  the  Jews  from  the  building  of  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  it  was  very  low  before  that  time ; and  from  the 
descriptions  we  have  of  that  edifice  itself  in  the  Bible,  it 
appears  to  have  exhibited  a greater  degree  of  barbaric 
splendour  than  of  classic  elegance.  From  mere  descrip- 
tion, however,  it  is  impossible  to  understand  an  unknown 
species  of  building,  as  many  things  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  refer  to  will  clearly  prove. 

Few  things  have  occasioned  controversies  more  amus- 
ing, from  the  singularity  of  some  assumptions,  and  the  ab- 
solute futility  of  them  all,  than  the  style  and  manner  in 
which  Solomon's  temple  was  built.  Yillalpanda,  a Spanish 
Jesuit,  appended  to  a commentary  which  he  wrote  on  the 
prophecies  of  Ezekiel,  a long  dissertation  on  the  first  and 
second  temples  of  Jerusalem,  in  which  he  insists  that  the 
theory  and  practice  of  permanent  architecture  commenced 
with  the  building  of  that  temple  by  Solomon — that  with 
it,  “ the  orders,”  which,  he  says,  are  falsely  attributed  to 
the  Greeks,  came  into  existence — that  indeed  the  design 
(from  a passage  in  the  first  book  of  the  Chronicles),  per- 
fect in  all  its  details,  was  given  to  David,  drawn  by  the 
hand  of  God  ! Fie  moreover  pretends  to  show,  that  the 
proportions  assigned  by  Vitruvius  to  the  dilferent  orders 
accord  exactly  with  the  descriptions  given  of  the  temple 
of  Solomon ; and  accuses  Callimachus  of  usurping  the  ho- 
nour of  inventing  the  Corinthian  capital,  which  could  not 
belong  to  him,  as  it  was  of  divine  origin,  and  had  been 
executed  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  centuries  before  be 
was  born.  Some  learned,  and  in  some  respects  sensible 
men,  have  attempted  to  support  this  theory ; and  others 
have  thought  it  worth  while  to  controvert  it,  by  proving 


that  the  architect  and  the  principal  workmen  were  all  History, 
either  Egyptians  or  Phoenicians,  and  that  consequently  the'— 
edifice  must  have  been  in  the  Egyptian  style.  A learned 
architect  of  the  present  day  has  endeavoured  to  show  that 
it  was  in  the  Greek  style,  and  that  its  form,  proportions, 
and  distribution,  were  not  dissimilar  to  those  of  the 
temple  of  Ceres  at  Eleusis.  As  the  Phoenicians,  who 
were  principally  employed  by  Solomon,  themselves  built 
in  the  Egyptian  manner,  we  think  the  probability  is  great 
that  it  was  in  the  Egyptian  or  Phoenician  style,  as  far  as 
the  Jewish  ceremonial  would  permit;  and  certainly  the 
descriptions  of  its  distribution  accord  better  with  that  of 
an  Egyptian  than  of  a Grecian  temple.  The  pillars  of 
Jachim  and  Boaz,  which  are  said  to  have  been  set  up  be- 
fore the  temple,  correspond  exactly  in  relative  situation 
with  the  obelisks  in  temples  at  Thebes.  Clemens  of  Alex- 
andria, too,  gives  a description  of  an  Egyptian  temple  very 
much  like  that  of  the  Jewish ; and  the  palm-leaves,  roses, 
fruits,  and  flowers,  in  the  latter,  are  very  common  in  ex- 
isting specimens  of  the  former,  whereas  in  the  Greek  re- 
mains of  early  date  no  such  things  are  to  be  found. 
Whether  the  Jews  in  after-times  possessed  a national 
style  of  architecture  or  not,  we  cannot  tell : there  is  no 
reason,  however,  for  supposing  that  they  did ; for  their 
monotheistic  structure  at  Jerusalem  was  not  repeated  in 
other  places,  as  the  temples  of  the  heathen  divinities  were 
among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  by  which  they  might 
have  acquired  a peculiar  mode  of  composition  and  com- 
bination. The  non-existence  of  a national  Jewish  style 
of  architecture  tends  also  to  strengthen  our  position,  that 
architecture  did  not  originate  in  the  disposition  and  de- 
coration of  buildings  for  domestic  purposes,  of  which  the 
Jews  must,  when  settled,  have  made  as  much  use  as 
other  nations ; and  a multiplicity  of  religious  edifices,  in 
the  construction  of  which  they  might  have  acquired  one, 
was  forbidden  by  their  code. 

In  various  parts  of  Greece  and  Italy,  specimens  of  rude  Pelasgic 
walling  are  found  of  such  remote  antiquity  that  they  are,  arc^'tec* 
as  by  common  consent,  referred  to  the  fabulous  ages,  and,  ture‘ 
for  want  of  a more  distinctive  term,  are  called  Cyclopaean. 

Now  it  appears,  from  the  concurring  evidence  and  opi- 
nions of  most  antiquaries,  that  a people  who  have  been 
called  Pelasgi,  or  sailors,  migrated  from  Asia  Minor,  or 
the  coast  of  Syria,  at  a very  early  period,  and  possessed 
themselves  of  various  countries,  some  of  which  were  un- 
occupied, and  others  inhabited  by  Celtic  tribes.  Mr 
Godfrey  Higgins  says  that  the  Pelasgi  were  Canaanites, 
and  being  a hardy  sea-faring  race,  they  soon  subdued  the 
Celtic  inhabitants  of  Delphi  in  Greece,  or  of  Cuma  in 
Italy,  who,  from  their  first  quitting  the  pai'ent  hive,  never 
had  occasion  for  an  offensive  weapon,  except  against  wild 
beasts ; and  that  they  were  the  people  who  settled  Car- 
thage, Spain,  and  Ireland.  Bishop  Marsh  has  proved  the 
Pelasgi  to  be  Dorians,  Dr  Clarke  has  proved  the  Etrusci 
to  be  Phoenicians,  and  Gallseus  has  proved  the  Dorians  to 
be  Phoenicians.  Thus,  says  Mr  Higgins,  the  Pelasgi,  the 
Etrusci,  and  the  Phoenicians,  are  all  proved  to  be  the 
same.  According  to  Professor  Heeren,  also,  who  affixes 
dates  to  the  various  migrations,  the  Pelasgi  were  of 
Asiatic  origin.  “ Their  first  arrival  in  the  Peloponnesus 
was  under  Inachus,  about  1800  years  b.  c. ; and  accord- 
ing to  their  own  traditions,”  he  says,  “ they  made  their 
first  appearance  in  this  quarter  as  uncultivated  savages. 

They  must,  however,  at  an  early  period,  have  made  some 
progress  towards  civilization,  since  the  most  ancient  states, 

Argos  and  Sicyon,  owed  their  origin  to  them ; and  to 
them,  perhaps  with  great  probability,  are  attributed  the 
remains  of  those  most  ancient  monuments  generally 
termed  Cyclopic.”1  He  adds,  that  the  Hellenes,  a people 


1 Manual  of  Ancient  History , p.  111). 


ARCHITECTURE. 


II 


History,  of  Asiatic  origin  also,  expelled  the  Pelasgi  from  almost 
every  part  of  Greece,  about  300  years  after  their  first 
occupation  of  it ; the  latter  keeping  their  footing  only  in 
Arcadia  and  in  the  land  of  Dodona,  whilst  some  of  them 
migrated  to  Italy,  and  others  to  Crete  and  various  islands. 
The  arrival  of  the  Egyptian  and  Phoenician  colonies  in 
Greece,  Professor  Heeren  thinks,  was  between  1600  and 
1400  b.  c. 

The  connection  of  Greece  and  Italy  with  each  other, 
and  with  Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  is  thus  made  evident.  The 
Cyclopaean  structures,  however,  were  the  works  of  the 
rude  Pelasgi  before  that  connection  took  place,  except  as 
far  as  it  existed  in  their  having  a common  origin.  They 
occupied,  either  simultaneously  or  consecutively,  both 
Greece  and  Italy;  and  this  accounts  for  the  sameness 
of  that  peculiar  and  original  mode  of  structure  which,  we 
have  said,  is  found  in  both  countries,  though  no  evidence 
exists  of  its  ever  having  been  practised  elsewhere.  If,  in- 
deed, the  things  in  question  were  the  work  of  the  earlier 
Celtic  inhabitants,  a still  more  remote  date  must  be  as- 
signed them  than  they  could  derive  from  the  Pelasgi ; 
and  this  is  the  opinion  of  Mr  Higgins,  supported,  he 
contends,  by  the  suffrages  of  Dodwell,  Clarke,  and  others, 
who  say  that  the  doorway  called  the  Gate  of  the  Lions, 
in  the  Acropolis  of  Mycenae,  is  built  exactly  like  the 
remains  of  Stonehenge.  The  most  ancient  specimen 
of  Cyclopic  walling  is  found  at  Tyrinthus,  near  My- 
I’lace  LV.  cense.  It  is  composed  of  huge  masses  of  rock  roughly 
Fig-  14.  hewn  and  piled  up  together,  with  the  interstices  at  the 
angles  filled  up  by  small  stones,  but  without  mortar  or 
cement  of  any  kind.  The  next  species  is  in  stones  of  va- 
rious sizes  also,  shaped  polygonally,  and  fitted  with  nicety 
one  to  another,  but  not  laid  in  courses.  Specimens  of 
this  are  found  at  Iulis  and  Delphi,  as  well  as  at  the  places 
already  mentioned,  in  Greece,  and  in  various  parts  of 
Italy,  particularly  at  Cossa,  a town  of  the  Volsci.  This 
also  was  constructed  without  mortar.  The  mode  of  build- 
ing walls,  which  took  the  place  of  that,  is  not  called  Cyclo- 
Fig.  IS. paean  ; it  is  in  parallel  courses  of  rectangular  stones,  of  un- 
equal size,  but  of  the  same  height.  This  is  common  in 
the  Phocian  cities,  and  in  some  parts  of  Bceotia  and  Ar- 
golis.  To  that  succeeded  the  mode  most  common  in,  and 
which  was  chiefly  confined  to,  Attica.  It  consists  of  hori- 
zontal courses  of  masonry,  not  always  of  the  same  height, 
but  composed  of  rectangular  stones. 

The  oldest  existing  structure  in  Greece  of  regular  form 
is  of  far  superior  construction  to  the  Cyclopaean  walling, 
and  must  be  referred  to  the  Egyptian  or  Phoenician  co- 
lonists. It  is  at  Mycenae,  and  consists  of  two  subterra- 
nean chambers,  one  of  which  is  much  larger  than  the 
other.  The  outer  and  larger  one  is  of  circular  form,  and 
is  entered  by  a huge  doorway  at  the  end  of  a long  ave- 
nue of  colossal  walls,  built  in  nearly  parallel  courses  of 
rectangular  stones,  roughly  hewn,  however,  and  laid  with- 
out mortar.  Its  external  effect  is  that  of  an  excavation, 
though  the  structure  of  the  front  is  evident;  and  inter- 
nally it  assumes  the  form  of  an  immense  lime-kiln  ; its 
vertical  section  being  of  a somewhat  conical  form,  under 
nearly  parabolic  curves,  like  a pointed,  or  what  is  vulgarly 
called  a Gothic  arch.  The  construction  of  this  edifice 
was  thought  to  afford  clear  evidence  that  the  Greeks 
were  acquainted  with  the  properties  of  the  arch  ; but 
in  the  most  material  point  this  was  destro3'ed  on  finding 
that  it  consisted  of  parallel  projecting  courses  of  stone  in 
horizontal  layers,  in  the  manner  called  by  our  workmen 
battering,  or  more  correctly  perhaps  corbelling.  It  proves, 
however,  that  its  architect  understood  the  principle  of  the 
arch  in  its  horizontal  position  ; for  Mr  Cockerell  has  dis- 
covered, by  excavations  above  it,  that  the  diminishing  rings 
of  which  the  dome  is  composed  are  complete  in  them- 


Grecian 

architec- 

ture. 


selves  for  withstanding  outward  pressure  ; the  joints  of  the  History, 
stones  being  partly  wrought  concentric,  and  partly  ren- 
dered  so  by  wedges  of  small  stones  driven  tightly  into 
them  behind.  The  apex  is  formed,  not  by  a key-stone, 
for  the  construction  does  not  admit  of  such,  but  by  a 
covering  stone,  which  is  merely  laid  on  the  course  imme- 
diately below  it.  It  may  be  added,  that  internally  the 
lower  projecting  angles  of  the  stones  are  worked  off  to 
follow  the  general  outline.  Though  this  is  the  largest 
and  most  perfect,  its  internal  diameter  at  the  base  being 
48  feet  6 inches,  and  its  height  from  the  floor  to  the  co- 
vering stone  45  feet,  yet  edifices  exhibiting  similar  struc- 
ture are  found  in  many  other  places  in  Greece  itself,  in 
Egypt,  in  Sicily,  and  in  Italy.  They  all  however  tend  to 
prove,  that  the  principle  of  the  construction  of  the  verti- 
cal arch  was  unknown  at  the  time  of  their  erection  in  all 
those  countries  ; and  their  erection  is  as  evidently  of  the 
most  remote  antiquity,  perhaps  of  the  presumed  era  of 
Dasdalus,  to  whom  some  have  assigned  many  of  them,  as 
well  as  the  discovery  of  so  much  of  the  principle  of  the 
arch  as  is  exhibited  in  the  arrangement  of  the  horizontal 
rings  or  layers  in  the  Mycenaean  monument.  Neither 
could  the  mechanical  powers  have  been  unknown  to  their 
constructors.  In  the  edifice  which  we  have  described, 
and  which  is  thought  by  some  to  be  the  Treasury  of  Atreus, 
or  the  Tomb  of  bis  son  Agamemnon,  mentioned  by  Pau- 
sanias  as  existing  among  the  ruins  of  Mycenae  in  his  time, 
the  inner  lintel  of  the  doorway  is  27  feet  in  length,  16  feet 
deep,  and  nearly  4 feet  thick,  weighing,  it  is  computed, 
upwards  of  130  tons ; and  the  lintel  of  the  Gate  of  the 
Lions  in  the  Acropolis  of  the  same  city,  is,  from  its  im- 
mense magnitude,  also  strongly  illustrative  of  the  great 
mechanical  skill  of  the  people  of  those  times.  As  the 
treasury  of  Atreus  at  present  exists,  it  exhibits  nothing 
like  an  attempt  at  decoration,  except  that  the  doorway  is, 
on  the  outside,  sunk  in  two  faces  all  round,  as  if  to  harmo- 
nize with  some  architectural  composition  ; and  the  inte- 
rior of  the  edifice  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  lined, 
probably  with  plates  of  metal,  like  the  tower  of  Acrisius, 
as  bronze  nails  for  attaching  them  to  the  vault  still  re- 
main. Some  sculptured  fragments  of  marble  which  have 
been  found  among  the  ruins  of  the  fallen  parts  and  the 
rubbish  which  chokes  up  the  entrance,  together  with  in- 
dications on  the  external  front  of  the  edifice  that  it  was 
cased,  have  led  to  an  ingenious  attempt  at  restoration, 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  fragments  were  parts  of  a 
frontispiece.  The  fact  that  such  frontispieces  were  some- 
times carved,  and  sometimes  constructed,  in  connection 
with  the  entrances  of  excavated  tombs  and  other  spca  in 
Egypt  and  Nubia,  gives  a degree  of  probability  to  the 
idea  that  it  would  not  otherwise  have  ; for  the  fragments 
do  not  resemble  the  earliest  existing  specimens  of  Greek 
architectural  forms;  though  indeed  these  latter  maybe 
traced  to  Persepolis,  and  Ibrim  in  Nubia,  according  to 
several  ingenious  antiquaries  and  architects.  In  curious 
accordance  with  this  Mycenaean  structure  is  the  ancient 
monument  at  New  Grange,  near  Drogheda,  in  Ireland. 

Ruder  in  every  respect  than  the  former,  in  form,  con- 
struction, and  mode  of  access,  it  bears  such  a striking 
similarity  to  it,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  be  supposed 
the  effect  of  mere  chance.  The  opinion  of  Mr  Godfrey 
Higgins,  that  the  Pelasgi,  who  peopled  many  of  the  coun 
tries  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  peopled 
Ireland  also,  appears  to  be  supported  by  this  coincidence 
between  the  so-called  Treasury  of  Atreus,  or  Tomb  of 
Agamemnon,  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  the  monument  at 
New  Grange  in  Ireland. 

We  know  of  no  columnar  edifice  in  Greece,  or  else- Plate  I. V. 
where  in  the  Grecian  style,  of  earlier  date  than  the  ruin- Fig.  10. 
ed  temple  at  Corinth,  which  is  in  the  plainest  and  sim- 


12  ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  plest  form  of  what  lias  been  called  the  Doric  Order, 
though  it  would  he  more  correctly  designated  the  Doric 
Style ; for  the  term  Order  is  objectionable,  because  it  sup- 
poses rules  and  limitations  to  what  in  its  best  times  was 
subjected  to  neither.  As,  however,  it  is  the  term  best 
understood,  we  shall  not  hesitate  to  continue  it.  It  is  dif- 
ficult, if  not  impossible,  to  ascertain  where  and  in  what 
manner  the  Doric  order  originated.  The  example  we  have 
referred  to,  though  the  earliest,  does  not  differ  in  its  lead- 
ing features  and  characteristics  from  the  more  perfect 
specimens  of  later  date  ; and  it  bears  no  direct  and  easy 
analogy  to  any  species  of  columnar  arrangement  of  other 
countries  and  earlier  times.  The  story  of  Vitruvius,  even 
supposing  it  rational,  does  not  coincide  with  the  Greek 
style  of  Doric  at  all,  hut,  if  with  any  thing,  with  the  Ro- 
man examples  of  it,  which  at  the  best  are  mean  and  in- 
elegant deteriorations  of  the  simple  and  beautiful  original. 
This  author  says  that  “ Dorus,  the  son  of  Hellenus  and  of 
the  nymph  Orseis,  king  of  Achaia  and  of  all  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, having  formerly  built  a temple  to  Juno  in  the  an- 
cient city  of  Argos,  this  temple  was  found  by  chance 
to  be  in  that  manner  which  we  call  Doric.”1  In  another 
place  he  deduces  the  arrangements  of  this  same  order 
from  those  of  a primitive  log-hut  in  the  first  place,  through 
all  the  refinements  of  carpentry,  leaving  nothing  to  chance, 
but  settling  with  the  utmost  precision  what,  in  the  latter, 
suggested  the  various  parts  of  the  former.  Chance  in 
one  case,  and  experience  in  another,  however,  are  not 
enough  for  this  author  ; but  he  also  tells  us  that  the  Doric 
column  was  modelled  by  the  Grecian  colonists  in  Asia 
Minor,  on  the  proportions  of  the  male  human  figure,  and 
was  made  six  diameters  in  height,  because  a man  was  found 
to  be  six  times  the  length  of  his  foot;  and  that  eventual 
improvements  occasioned  the  column  to  be  made  one  dia- 
meter more,  or  seven  instead  of  six.  “ Thus  the  Doric 
column  was  first  adapted  to  edifices,  having  the  propor- 
tions, strength,  and  beauty  of  the  body  of  a man  !”  The 
earliest  examples  of  this  order,  however,  are  those  which 
least  agree  with  the  primitive  forms  and  proportions  of 
Vitruvius ; the  columns  at  Corinth  hardly  exceed  four 
diameters  in  height,  while  in  later  examples  they  gradu- 
ally extend,  till,  in  the  temple  of  Minerva  on  the  promon- 
tory of  Sunium,  the  columns  are  nearly  six  diameters,  be- 
ing one  of  the  tallest  specimens  of  pure  Greek  origin  ever 
executed.  If  the  trunks  of  trees  used  in  the  structure  of 
tents  suggested  the  first  idea  of  columns,  and  of  the  Doric 
in  particular,  as  many  contend,  how  is  it  that  the  earli- 
est specimens  discovered  are  the  most  massive  ? For  the 
merest  saplings  would  have  formed  the  wooden  proto- 
columns, and  necessarily,  when  imitated  in  stone,  they 
would  not  have  been  made  more  bulky  than  the  less  tena- 
cious nature  of  the  material  required;  much  less  would 
the  slender  wooden  architrave  have  been  magnified  into 
the  ponderous  entablature  of  the  primitive  permanent  ar- 
chitectural structures  of  all  nations.  In  the  construction 
of  edifices  with  the  trunks  of  trees,  and  timber  generally, 
then,  we  do  not  find  the  origin  of  Doric  architecture.  If 
we  have  recourse  to  Egypt,  the  mother  of  the  arts  and 
sciences,  we  shall  indeed  find  many  things  even  in  the 
more  ancient  structures  which  may  have  furnished  an  idea 
of  the  Boric  arrangements  to  the  fertile  imagination  of  a 
Greek.  The  later  works  of  that  country  cannot  be  trust- 
ed for  originality,  as  they  may  themselves  have  been  in- 
fluenced by  Greek  examples ; but  we  hardly  dare  assert 
that  the  Doric  order  was  suggested  by  any  thing  in  Egyp- 
tian architecture,  though  in  making  such  assertion  we 
should  be  supported  by  the  opinions  of  many  competent 


judges.  The  temple  at  Amada  in  Nubia  can  hardly  be  History, 
positively  assumed  as  an  example  of  the  proto-Doric,K^''^~ 
though  it  may  of  the  proto-columnar.  Nevertheless,  the^at£  ' 
example  is  striking,  as  it  certainly  possesses  the  Doric 
character.  The  broad  square  abacus,  and  the  cylindrical 
or  even  conoidal  tendency  of  the  shaft,  marked  as  it  is,  as 
if  for  fluting,  with  the  plain,  simple,  and  massive  epistyle 
or  architrave  superimposed,  are  all  in  accordance  with  the 
Hellenic  columnar  ordinance ; but  still  there  is  nothing 
to  connect  that  rude  model  with  the  positive  and  some- 
what formally  arranged  example  at  Corinth  with  which 
we  began.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  two 
connecting  links  between  Egyptian  and  Greek  architec- 
ture are  lost ; Lower  Egypt,  with  its  splendid  capital 
Memphis,  and  Phoenicia;  through  which  latter  the  learn- 
ing and  taste  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  former  country  ap- 
pear to  have  taken  their  course ; but  of  neither  of  these 
do  we  possess  architectural  remains  that  bear  on  the  sub- 
ject in  question.  In  the  Pharaonic  structures  of  Thebes 
we  find  both  the  tumescent  and  the  cylindrical  columns ; 
and  an  amalgamation  and  modification  of  the  two  would 
easily  produce  the  Doric  column,  or  something  very  much 
like  it,  which  may  have  been  executed  in  those  places,  and 
so  transferred  to  Greece.  Of  the  triglyphs,  the  most  dis- 
tinguishing part  of  the  Doric  entablature,  there  are  many 
indications  in  the  early  works  of  Upper  Egypt ; and  in  the 
structures  of  the  Ptolemies  they  are  still  more  evident; 
though  it  may  be  objected  that,  in  these,  those  indications 
were  borrowed  from  the  Greeks  after  the  Macedonian  con- 
quest. But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Egyptian  na- 
tion did  not  change  its  character,  religion,  or  usages  by  the 
change  of  its  governors ; and  the  Egyptians  were,  through 
the  whole  period  of  their  existence  as  a nation,  an  origi- 
nating and  not  an  imitative  people ; whereas  the  Greeks 
seized  on  a beauty  wherever  they  found  one,  and  made  it 
their  own  by  improving  it.  The  forms  and  arrangement, 
too,  of  many  of  the  Greek  mouldings,  and  the  manner  of 
carving  to  enrich  them,  are  common  in  the  earliest  ornate 
works  of  the  Egyptians ; and  such  things  are  as  strong 
evidence  of  community  of  origin,  as  the  existence  of  simi- 
lar words  having  the  same  meaning  in  different  languages 
is  of  theirs.  We  may  be  asked,  why  the  Greeks  cannot 
be  allowed  to  have  originated  that  beautiful  style  of  ar- 
chitecture which  they  brought  to  the  perfection  it  displays 
in  their  works  ? To  which  we  think  it  a sufficient  answer, 
that  it  would  be  against  the  common  course  of  events  if  it 
were  so.  In  Egypt  we  can  trace  a progress  from  the  ruder 
to  the  more  advanced,  and,  with  trifling  discrepancies,  to 
the  most  perfect ; but  in  Greece,  the  earliest  specimen  of 
columnar  architecture  that  presents  itself  displays  almost 
all  the  qualities  and  perfections  which  are  found  in  works 
of  periods  when  learning  and  civility  were  at  their  acme  in 
that  country.  We  cannot  find  in  Greece  a stepping-stone 
from  the  Celtic  or  Pelasgic  Gate  of  the  Lions  of  Mycenae,  to 
the  Doric  columns  at  Corinth,  and  hardly  to  the  Fane  of 
Minerva  in  the  Acropolis  of  Athens ; and  have  therefore  to 
seek  the  gradations  among  the  people  with  whom  we  have 
seen  they  wrere  connected,  and  whose  country  furnishes 
them  in  a great  measure,  if  not  entirely.  Differences  in 
climate  and  in  political  constitution,  as  well  as  in  forms 
of  religion,  account  sufficiently  for  the  differences  between 
the  arrangements  of  the  religious  structures  of  the  Greeks 
and  those  of  Egypt.  At  the  present  day  we  find,  that 
though  they  may  be  built  in  the  same  style,  and  for  the 
worship  of  the  same  divinity,  there  is  a wide  difference  be- 
tween a church  in  Italy  and  a church  in  England,  and  a 
still  greater  between  a church  in  the  former  country  and 


1 Vitruvius,  lib.  i.  cap.  i. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


13 


History,  one  in  Scotland.  The  model,  however,  of  the  Greek 
temple  is  found  in  many  places  in  Egypt,  generally  placed 
as  a chapel  or  aedicula,  subsidiary  to,  and  in  connection 
with,  the  larger  structures,  as  well  as  in  the  earlier  Nubian 
temples  themselves. 

None  other  than  the  Doric  style  or  order  was  used  in 
Greece  till  after  the  Macedonian  conquest,  about  which 
period  that  beautiful  and  graceful  variety  called  the  Ionic 
was  brought  into  use.  It  is  as  difficult  to  determine  its  origin 
as  that  of  the  Doric.  Vitruvius  says  that  the  Ionian  colo- 
nists, on  building  a temple  to  Diana,  wished  to  find  some 
new  manner  that  was  beautiful ; and  by  the  method  which 
they  had  pursued  with  the  Doric,  proportioning  the  column 
after  a man,  they  gave  to  this  the  delicacy  of  the  female 
figure ; in  the  first  place  by  making  the  diameter  of  the 
column  one  eighth  of  its  height,  then  by  putting  a base  to 
it  in  twisted  cords,  like  the  sandals  of  a woman,  and  putting 
volutes  to  the  capital,  like  the  hair  which  hangs  on  both 
sides  of  her  face.  To  crown  all,  he  says  that  they  chan- 
nelled or  fluted  the  column,  to  resemble  the  folds  of  female 
garments,  by  which  it  would  appear  that  Vitruvius  did 
not  know  that  the  Greeks  never  executed  the  Doric  order 
without  fluting  the  columns.  “ Thus,”  he  goes  on  to  say, 
“ they  invented  these  two  species  of  columns,  imitating  in 
the  one  the  naked  simplicity  and  dignity  of  a man,  and  in 
the  other  the  delicacy  and  the  ornaments  of  a woman.”  It 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  voluted  or  Ionic  order  did 
originate  in  Ionia,  at  least  we  know  of  no  earlier  ex- 
amples of  it  than  those  which  exist  there ; and  it  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  known  to  the  European  Greeks, 
and  certainly  was  not  practised  by  them,  till  after  the  pe- 
riod rve  have  indicated.  It  probably  took  its  rise  from 
some  peculiarities  in  Persian  architecture ; though  many 
believe  that  the  Ionic  order  had  a much  earlier  origin,  de- 
riving it  from  Egypt,  where,  it  is  true,  many  indications 
are  found  of  its  volutes  in  the  spiral  enrichments  of  capi- 
tals ; but  it  must  be  observed  that  they  are  in  edifices 
now  ascertained  to  be  of  the  age  of  the  Ptolemies,  and 
consequently  later  than  the  structures  which  exhibit  the 
voluted  order  in  Ionia  and  its  islands.  We  think,  too, 
that  many  persons  are  influenced  in  assigning  a higher 
degree  of  antiquity  to  this  style  than  facts  will  bear  out, 
by  their  respect  for  the  authority  of  Vitruvius ; though 
Mr  Gwilt  (his  latest  translator  into  English)  confesses 
that  “ upon  his  authority  in  matters  of  historical  research 
not  much  reliance  is  to  be  placed.”1  We  are  willing  to 
admit  that  much  may  be  adduced  in  support  of  the  opinion, 
that  this  style  was  known  and  used  in  Greece  even  before 
the  age  of  Pericles;  specimens  of  it  having  been  found  in 
connection  with  sculpture,  certainly  less  perfect,  and  there- 
fore presumed  to  be  of  earlier  date,  than  the  works  of 
Phidias  and  his  pupils  and  compeers. 

It  is  no  less  difficult  to  determine  the  origin  of  what  is 
called  the  Corinthian  order.  The  not  inelegant  tradi- 
tionary tale  by  Vitruvius  of  the  invention  of  its  capital,  is 
the  only  reason  of  the  name  it  bears.  His  account  of 
the  origin  of  this  third  species  of  columnar  composition 
is  more  summary,  and  not  less  absurd,  than  that  of  the  pre- 
ceding. He  says  that  it  was  arranged  “ to  represent  the 
delicacy  of  a young  girl  whose  age  renders  her  figure 
more  pleasing  and  more  susceptible  of  ornaments  which 
may  enhance  her  natural  beauty.”  With  much  more 
reason  might  the  Doric  be  called  the  Corinthian  order ; 
for,  as  we  have  stated,  at  Corinth  there  exists  the  oldest 
example  of  that  style ; whereas  there  is  nothing,  either  in 
ruins  or  authentic  record,  to  prove  that  the  latter  was  ever 
known  in  that  city.  Columns  with  foliated  capitals  are 


not  of  very  early  date  in  Greece ; earlier  exist  in  Asia  History. 
Minor,  and  foliage  adorns  the  capitals  of  columns  in  some'^^^ 
of  the  Pharaonic  monuments  of  Egypt ; not  arranged, 
indeed,  as  in  the  later  Corinthian  capital,  which  by  pos- 
sibility may  have  been  the  result  of  some  such  accident 
as  Vitruvius  relates  of  Callimachus  and  the  basket  on  the 
grave  of  the  Corinthian  virgin.  The  interior  of  the  temple 
of  Apollo  Didymaeus  at  Miletus  in  Ionia  exhibits  the 
earliest  example  of  the  acanthus  leaf  arranged  round  the 
drum  of  a capital  in  a single  row,  surmounted  by  the 
favourite  honeysuckle ; but  that  edifice  was  constructed 
about  a century  before  Callimachus  is  understood  to  have 
lived.  The  only  perfect  columnar  example  in  Greece  it-  Plate  LX. 
self  of  this  species  of  foliated  capital  is  of  later  date  than,  Pigs.  I,  -j, 
and  is  a great  improvement  on,  that  of  Miletus ; it  is  the  & 3* 
beautiful  little  structure  called  the  Choragic  monument 
of  Lysicrates  at  Athens.  Specimens  are  less  uncommon 
in  Greece  of  square  or  antse  capitals,  enriched  with  foli- 
age, than  of  circular  or  columnar  capitals ; but  they  are 
almost  invariably  found  to  have  belonged  to  the  interior 
of  buildings,  and  not  to  have  been  used  externally.  In 
considering  Greek  architecture,  it  is  necessary  to  bear  in 
mind  that  it  ceases  almost  immediately  after  the  subjec- 
tion of  Greece  to  the  Roman  power ; for  there  are  many 
edifices  in  that  country  in  the  style  of  columnar  arrange- 
ment of  which  we  are  now  speaking  besides  those  re- 
ferred to,  but  they  belong  to  Roman  and  not  to  Greek 
architecture.  The  earliest  of  them  perhaps,  and  certainly 
the  least  influenced  by  Roman  taste,  is  the  structure  called 
the  Tower  of  the  Winds,  or  of  Andronicus  Cyrrhestes,  at 
Athens.  A spurious  example  of  Greek  Doric,  evidently 
executed  under  the  Roman  domination,  may  be  referred 
to  here  ; it  is  that  of  the  Agora,  or  Doric  portico,  as  it  is 
sometimes  distinguished,  in  the  same  city. 

Besides  the  three  species  of  columnar  arrangement  we 
have  enumerated,  the  Greeks  employed  another  in  which 
statues  of  women  occupied  the  place  of  columns.  The 
reason  of  this  too  Vitruvius  furnishes  in  a story  which  is, 
as  usual,  totally  unsupported  by  history  or  analogy;  but 
the  consequence  of  it  is,  that  such  figures  are  called 
Caryatides ; and  the  arrangement  has  been  called  by 
some  the  Caryatic  order.  The  use  of  representations  of 
the  human  and  other  figures  with  or  instead  of  columns 
is,  however,  common  in  the  structures  of  Egypt  and  In- 
dia ; and  to  the  former  the  Greeks  were  doubtless  indebt- 
ed for  the  idea,  though  they  appear  to  have  restricted 
its  application  to  human  female  figures.  Mr  Gwilt  in- 
fers, from  various  facts  connected  with  the  worship  of 
Diana  Caryatis,  “ that  the  statues  called  Caryatides  were 
originally  applied  to  or  used  about  the  temples  of  Diana  ; 
and  instead  of  representing  captives  or  persons  in  a state 
of  ignominy  (as  the  Vitruvian  story  goes),  were  in  fact 
nothing  more  than  the  figures  of  the  virgins  who  celebrat- 
ed the  worship  of  that  goddess.”2 

The  only  architectural  works  of  the  Greeks  that  re- 
main to  us  of  any  consequence,  besides  temples,  pro- 
pylaea,  and  Choragic  monuments,  are  theati'es ; but  these 
latter  do  not  retain  any  thing  connected  with  architec- 
tural decoration  to  make  them  interesting,  except  to  the 
architect  and  antiquary.  They  are  generally  situated  on 
the  side  of  a hill,  and  were  rather  excavated  or  carved 
out  in  the  earth  or  rock,  than  built ; except  the  prosce- 
nium and  parascenium,  which  being  at  the  lower  part,  in 
front,  and  requiring  elevation,  must  of  necessity  be  built ; 
but  very  little  of  the  constructed  portions  in  any  case  ex- 
ists. It  does  not  appear  that  the  theatres  afforded  any 
provision  for  sheltering  the  spectators,  or  indeed  the  ac- 


Gwilt’s  Chamben’t  Civil  Architecture,  p.  30. 


2 Ibid.  p.  57- 


14  ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  tors,  from  rain,  except  perhaps  a covered  cyrtostylar  co- 
lonnade  within  the  upper  boundary  wall,  which,  even  when 
it  existed,  was  of  necessity  very  narrow  and  small  for  so 
large  a number  of  people  as  were  generally  assembled ; 
for  the  theatres  were  calculated  to  hold  from  five  to  fifteen 
and  even  twenty  thousand  persons.  This,  to  say  the  least 
ofit,  must  have  subjected  the  public  to  great  inconve- 
niences, even  in  so  fine  a climate  as  that  of  Greece;  for 
they  were  unsheltered  from  the  sun  at  all  times,  and  effec- 
tually debarred  of  a favourite  amusement  in  wet  weather. 

No  remains  exist  of  the  domestic  structures  of  the 
Greeks ; and  we  are  too  well  aware,  from  the  example  of 
others,  of  the  futility  of  following  mere  descriptions  on 
the  subject,  to  attempt  it  here  ; especially  as  the  most  ex- 
plicit are  those  of  Vitruvius,  whom  we  know  to  have  been 
ignorant  of  the  arrangement  of  Greek  temples,  by  those 
of  them  which  exist,  and  may  therefore  reasonably  sus- 
pect of  ignorance  with  regard  to  things  of  which  we  have 
no  remains.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  houses 
of  the  Greeks  were  less  extensive  than  those  of  the 
Romans,  as  they  were  a poorer  and  less  luxurious  peo- 
ple ; and  we  shall  be  able  to  determine  those  of  the  lat- 
ter nation  with  great  exactitude,  from  the  actual  remains 
of  Roman  towns  and  country  mansions.  The  exquisite 
beauty  of  form  and  decoration  which  pervades  every  ar- 
ticle of  Greek  origin,  whether  coins,  medallions,  vases, 
implements  of  war  or  husbandry,  or  even  the  meanest  ar- 
ticle of  domestic  or  personal  use  of  which  we  have  speci- 
mens or  representations,  is  evidence  of  the  fine  taste  with 
which  the  mansions  of  the  Greeks  were  furnished.  How- 
ever, ignorance  of  the  use  of  the  arch,  inferior  carpentry, 
the  absence  of  glass,  and  ignorance  of  the  use  of  chimneys, 
were  disadvantages  which  the  Greeks  laboured  under  in  the 
construction  and  convenient  arrangement  of  their  houses, 
that  no  degree  of  taste  and  elegance  could  completely 
countervail. 

In  the  construction  of  their  edifices,  the  Greeks  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  had  recourse  to  foreign  materials  ; the  stone 
used  in  their  temples  being  almost  invariably  from  the 
nearest  convenient  quarries,  which  supplied  it  of  suffi- 
ciently good  quality.  The  structures  of  Athens  are  built 
of  marble  from  the  quarries  of  Pentelicus,  and  those  of 
Agrigentum  of  a fossil  conglomerate  which  the  place  it- 
self furnishes. 

Invention  We  have  taken  it  for  granted  that  the  Greeks  were  ig- 

of  the  arch.norant  of  the  properties  of  the  arch,  having  too  high  an 
opinion  of  their  good  sense  to  think  that  they  could  be 
acquainted  witb  so  admirable  and  useful  an  expedient,  and 
never  use  it;  and  no  instance  of  its  adaptation  occurs  in 
the  construction  of  Greek  edifices  before  the  connection 
of  Greece  with  Rome  took  place.  Whether  its  invention 
should  be  referred  to  Italy  or  not  is  another  question.  If 
the  great  sewer  at  Rome  called  the  Cloaca  Maxima  was 
constructed  in  the  time  of  Tarquinius  Priscus,  it  must  be 
conceded  that  the  properties  of  the  arch  were  known  and 
practised  in  that  country  at  an  earlier  period  than  we 
know  the  principle  to  have  been  understood  and  applied 
elsewhere  ; for  neither  Egypt  nor  Greece,  nor  any  of  the 
Grecian  colonies,  can  furnish  evidence  that  it  was  known 
to  either  Egyptians  or  Grecians  till  a long  time  after  the 
period  referred  to,  and  when  it  may  have  been  communi- 
cated from  Italy.  But  it  is  contended  that  the  Cloaca 
Maxima,  as  it  now  exists,  is  a work  of  much  more  recent 
date,  and  that  it  may  have  succeeded  the  sewer  con- 
structed by  the  first  Tarquinius,  who  was  moreover  himself 
a Greek.  If  the  first  part  of  the  objection  be  correct,  the 
evidence  in  favour  of  Italy  is  destroyed,  as  far  as  that 


work  is  concerned ; the  second  is  fallacious,  because  it  is  History, 
not  necessary  that  the  monarch  should  have  brought  thev-^v^w“ 
knowledge  with  him ; though  indeed  he  might  have  ac- 
quired it  in  Etruria,  or  it  might  have  existed  in  Rome  be- 
fore his  arrival  there.  Most  writers  on  the  subject  are  of 
opinion  that  the  principle  of  the  arch  was  not  known,  in 
Europe  at  least,  nor  to  the  nations  of  Western  Asia  and 
Africa,  till  after  the  Macedonian  conquest,  about  which 
time  it  may  have  been  invented,  or  acquired  from  some 
of  the  eastern  nations  who  were  visited  by  the  conque- 
rors. To  these  suggestions  the  objections  hold  that  the 
arch  was  not  applied  in  Egypt  in  the  architectural  works 
which  remain  of  the  Ptolemies,  nor  is  it  found  in  the  Per- 
sian and  Indian  monuments  which  date  beyond  that  pe- 
riod. The  author  of  the  Munimenta  Antiqua , after  a 
comprehensive  review  of  all  the  authorities  and  examples 
on  tlie  subject,  gives  it  as  his  own  opinion  that  “ Sicily 
was  the  country  where  this  noble  kind  of  ornament  first 
appeared,  and  that  Archimedes  was  the  inventor  of  it.”1 
The  evidence  appears,  we  think,  generally  stronger  in  fa- 
vour of  its  Italian  origin ; but  to  whomsoever  the  inven- 
tion may  be  attributed,  and  whensoever  it  was  made,  the 
Romans  were  the  first  to  make  extensive  practical  use  of 
it ; and  by  means  of  it  they  succeeded  in  doing  what  their 
predecessors  in  civilization  never  effected.  It  enabled 
them  to  carry  permanent  and  secure  roads  across  wide 
and  rapid  rivers,  and  to  make  a comparatively  frail  and 
fragile  material,  such  as  brick,  more  extensively  useful 
than  the  finest  marbles  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Greeks 
without  that  principle.  To  the  Greeks,  however,  the  Ro- 
mans were  indebted  for  their  knowledge  of  the  more  po- 
lished forms  of  columnar  architecture ; for,  before  the 
conquest  of  Greece,  the  structures  of  Rome  appear  to 
have  been  rude  and  inelegant.  The  few  specimens  of 
architecture  which  exist  of  date  anterior  to  that  period 
evidently  resemble  the  works  of  the  ancient  Etrurians, 
who,  though  they  had  made  considerable  advances  on 
the  architecture  of  their  Pelasgic  ancestors,  were  far  in- 
ferior in  taste  and  refinement  to  the  Greeks ; yet  it  is  to 
that  people  we  are  inclined  to  attribute  the  invention  of 
the  arch,  from  whom  the  Romans  acquired  their  know- 
ledge of  its  use,  and  that  degree  of  civilization  which 
they  possessed  before  the  epoch  referred  to.  It  may  be 
presumed  that  the  Etrurians  had  also  originated  the  style 
of  columnar  architecture  which  Vitruvius  describes  and 
calls  Tuscan;  but  as  no  example  of  it  exists,  at  least  no- 
thing that  answers  his  description  ofit,  we  cannot  tell  posi- 
tively what  it  really  was  ; for,  as  we  have  before  remarked, 
descriptions  without  a model,  of  architecture  particularly, 
are  quite  unintelligible,  as  far  as  understanding  a new 
style  goes.  Whatever  then  was  the  style  of  architecture 
in  Rome  before  the  conquest  of  Greece,  it  was  either  ex- 
ploded by  the  superior  merit  and  beauty  of  what  the  Ro- 
mans found  in  that  country,  or  combined  with  it,  though 
frequently  the  combination  tended  to  destroy  the  beauty 
of  both.  In  the  porticoes  of  the  temple  of  Antoninus  and 
Faustina,  and  of  the  Pantheon,  at  Rome,  the  chaste  sim- 
plicity of  a Greek  columnar  composition  is  preserved ; 
and  in  the  magnificent  dome  of  the  latter  edifice,  and  in 
the  long  extended  aqueduct,  it  is  fully  equalled.  But  the 
triumphal  arch  of  the  Romans,  a hybrid  composed  of  co- 
lumns and  arches,  is  devoid  alike  of  simplicity  and  har- 
mony, indeed  of  every  quality  which  constitutes  beauty  in 
architecture. 

In  the  transference  of  Greek  columnar  architecture  toRnman 
Rome,  a great  change  was  effected,  independently  of  those 
combinations.  The  less  refined  taste  of  the  Romans 


1 Munim.  Antiq.  by  Edward  King,  Esq.  F-R.  S.  and  S.A.  vol.  li.  p.  2G8. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  could  not  appreciate  the  simple  grandeur  and  dignified 
''""’V'"''  beauty  of  the  Doric,  as  it  existed  in  Greece.  They  appear 
to  have  moulded  it  on  what  we  suppose  their  own  Tuscan  to 
have  been  ; and  the  result  was  the  mean  and  characterless 
ordinance  exemplified  in  the  lowest  story  of  the  theatre  of 
Marcellus  at  Rome,  and  in  the  temple  at  Cora,  between 
30  and  40  miles  south  of  that  city.  Not  less  inferior  to 
the  Athenian  examples  of  the  Ionic  order,  than  the  Doric 
of  Cora  is  to  the  Doric  of  Athens,  are  the  mean  and  taste- 
less deteriorations  of  them  in  the  Roman  temples  of 
Manly  Fortune  and  Concord.  It  was  different,  however, 
with  the  foliated  Corinthian,  which  became  to  the  Romans 
what  the  Doric  had  been  to  the  Greeks — their  national 
style.  But  though  they  borrowed  the  style,  they  did  not 
copy  the  Greek  examples  of  it.  In  Rome  the  Corinthian 
order  assumed  a new  and  not  less  beautiful  form  and 
character,  and  was  varied  to  a wonderful  extent,  but  with- 
out losing  its  original  and  distinctive  features.  The  ex- 
ample of  the  temple  of  Vesta  at  Tivoli  hardly  differs  less 
from  that  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  in  Rome,  than 
the  latter  does  from  the  ordinance  of  the  Choragic  monu- 
ment of  Lysicrates  at  Athens ; and  all  three  are  among  the 
most  beautiful  examples  of  the  Corinthian  order  in  exist- 
ence— if  indeed  they  are  not  pre-eminently  so — and  yet 
they  do  not  possess  a single  proportion  in  common.  It 
must  be  confessed,  moreover,  that  if  the  Romans  had  not 
good  taste  enough  to  admire  the  Doric  and  Ionic  models 
of  Greece,  they  had  too  much  to  be  fond  of  their  own,  for 
they  seldom  used  them.  Both  at  home  and  abroad,  in  all 
their  conquests  and  colonies,  wherever  they  built,  they 
employed  the  Corinthian  order.  Corinthian  edifices  were 
raised  in  Iberia  and  in  Gaul,  in  Istria  and  in  Greece,  in 
Syria  and  in  Egypt;  and  to  the  present  day  Nismes,1  Pola, 
Athens,  Palmyra,  and  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  alike  attest 
the  fondness  of  the  Romans  for  that  peculiar  style.  We 
cannot  agree  with  the  generally  received  opinion,  that 
Greek  architects  were  employed  by  the  Romans  after  the 
connection  between  the  two  countries  took  place ; for  the 
difference  between  the  Greek  and  Roman  styles  of  archi- 
tecture is  not  merely  in  the  preference  given  to  one  over 
another  peculiar  mode  of  columnar  arrangement  and  com- 
position, but  a different  taste  pervades  even  the  details: 
though  the  mouldings  are  the  same,  they  differ  more  in 
spirit  and  character  than  do  those  of  Greece  and  Egypt, 
which  certainly  would  no.t  have  been  the  case  if  Roman 
architecture  had  been  the  work  of  Greek  architects.  In- 
deed, were  it  not  for  historical  evidence,  which  cannot 
absolutely  be  refuted,  an  examination  and  comparison  of 
the  architectural  monuments  of  the  two  countries  would 
lead  an  architect  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  Corinthian 
order  had  its  origin  in  Italy,  and  that  the  almost  solitary 
perfect  example  of  it  in  Greece  was  the  result  of  an  acci- 
dental communication  with  thatcountry, modified  by  Greek 
taste ; or  that  the  foliated  style  was  common  to  both,  with- 
out either  being  indebted  to  the  other  for  it.  The  Ro- 
mans conquered  Egypt  as  well  as  Greece,  but  we  do  not 
find  that  they  adopted  any  of  the  peculiarities  of  Egyptian 
architecture.  They  carried  away  indeed  the  obelisks  and 
many  of  the  sculptures  of  Egypt,  as  trophies  of  their  con- 
quests or  as  ornaments  of  their  city ; but  they  neither  made 
obelisks  nor  constructed  temples  to  Egyptian  divinities  in 


15 

the  Egyptian  style.  If,  however,  Greek  architects  were  History, 
employed  by  the  Romans,  they  must  have  made  their 
taste  and  mode  of  design  conform  to  those  of  their  con- 
querors much  more  readily  than  we  can  imagine  they 
would  as  the  civilized  slaves  of  barbarian  masters;  and  it 
is  too  clear  to  be  disputed,  that  the  Roman  architecture 
is  a style  essentially  distinct  from  the  Greek.  This  is 
elucidated  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  minor  works  of 
sculpture  in  connection  with  architecture,  such  as  candela- 
bra, vases,  and  various  articles  of  household  furniture  dis- 
covered at  the  villa  of  Adrianus,  near  Rome,  and  at  Her- 
culaneum and  Pompeii,  are  fashioned  and  ornamented  in 
the  Greek  style,  while  others  are  as  decidedly  Roman  in 
those  particulars ; rendering  it  evident  that  such  things 
were  either  imported  from  Greece,  or  that  Greek  artists 
and  artisans  were  employed  in  Italy,  who  retained  their 
own  national  taste  and  modes  of  design.  It  is  probable, 
nevertheless,  that  both  the  architects  and  artists,  natives 
of  Rome,  qualified  their  own  less  elegant  productions  by 
reference  to  Greek  models ; but  that  the  Romans  derived 
their  architecture  entirely  from  the  Greeks,  may  certainly 
be  disputed. 

Half  the  extent  and  magnificence  of  the  architectural 
works  of  the  Romans  is  attributable  to  their  knowledge  and 
use  of  the  arch,  which  enabled  them,  as  we  have  already 
intimated,  to  make  small  parallelopipedons  of  burnt  earth 
more  extensively  applicable  to  useful  purposes  than  any 
other  material  could  be,  from  the  greater  cost  of  provid- 
ing and  preparing  it;  whereas  brick  can,  in  almost  every 
place,  be  made  on  the  spot  in  which  it  is  wanted.  There 
is  a very  false  notion  abroad  as  to  the  richness  of  the  ma- 
terials used  for  building  in  Rome,  induced  by  the  inflated 
accounts  of  travellers  and  poets,  who  attempt  to  disguise 
their  ignorance,  or  their  want  of  knowledge  and  taste,  by 
raving  of  Vitruvian  proportions,  and  marble  temples,  pa- 
laces, and  baths.  The  truth  is,  that  Rome  was  built,  not 
of  marble,  nor  even  of  stone,  but  of  brick  ; for  in  compari- 
son to  the  quantity  of  brick,  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that 
there  is  more  stone  in  London  than  there  was  in  imperial 
Rome.  Almost  all  the  structures  of  the  Romans  indeed 
were  of  brick— their  aqueducts,  their  palaces,  their  villas, 
their  baths,  and  their  temples.  Of  the  present  remains,  it 
is  only  a few  columns  and  their  entablatures  that  are  of 
marble  or  granite,  and  two  or  three  buildings  of  Traver- 
tine stone ; — all  the  rest  are  brick.  The  Colosseum,  the 
Mausoleum  of  Adrian,  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  the  Temple  of 
Manly  Fortune,  and  the  ancient  bridges  on  the  Tiber,  are 
of  Travertine  stone  ; the  remaining  columns  of  the  more 
splendid  temples,  the  internal  columns  and  theiraccessories 
of  the  Pantheon,  the  exterior  of  the  imperial  arches,  and 
the  cenotaphial  columns  of  Trajanus  and  Antoninus,  are 
of  marble : but  the  Imperial  Mount  of  the  Palatine,  which 
holds  the  ruins  of  the  Palace  of  the  Caesars,  is  but  one 
mass  of  brick ; the  Pantheon,  except  its  portico  and  in- 
ternal columns,  &c.  is  of  brick  ; the  Temples  of  Peace,  of 
Venus  and  Rome,  and  of  Minerva  Medica,  are  of  brick  ; 
and  so,  for  the  most  part,  were  the  walls  of  others,  though 
they  may  have  been  faced  with  marble  or  freestone.  The 
Baths  of  Titus,  of  Caracalla,  and  of  Diocletianus,  are  of 
brick;  the  city  walls  are  of  brick;  so  are  the  extensive 
remains  of  the  splendid  villa  of  Adrianus  near  Rome ; 


1 Bordeaux  did.  A century  and  a half  ago  there  existed  at  Bordeaux  very  considerable  remains  of  a most  interesting  Roman 
edifice,  of  which  no  authentic  record  is  preserved  hut  a slight  sketch  by  Perrault,  the  architect  of  the  great  front  of  the  Louvre,  who 
delineated  it  a few  years  before  its  destruction  by  the  government,  and  who  termed  it  one  of  the  most  magnificent  and  most  entire  of 
the  Roman  monuments  then  remaining  in  France.  The  editor  of  the  new  edition  of  Stuart’s  Athens,  speaking  of  this,  says,  “ on  this 
occasion  the  reflection  presents  itself,  that  while  the  Turks  are  reprobated  for  appropriating  the  columns  of  ancient  Athens,  in  their 
haste  to  raise  a wall  to  defend  their  town  from  the  predatory  Albanians,  here,  in  the  vaunted  age  of  Louis  XIV.  (in  his  kingdom 
and  under  his  government,  may  be  added)  the  finest  production  of  ancient  architecture  in  France  was  more  recklessly  demolished  to 
make  place  for  the  fortifications  of  Bordeaux,  deliberately  constructed  by  Vauban  ; and  no  architect,  either  of  the  city  or  government, 
has  preserved  for  posterity  the  details  of  so  noble  a monument.”  ( Antiquities  of  Athens,  new  edition,  vol.  iii.  c.  xi.  p.  120.) 


ARCHITECTURE. 


JG 

History,  the  villa  of  Mecaenas  at  Tivoli ; the  palaces  of  the  Roman 

'T'*"’'  emperors  and  patricians  at  Baiae  and  in  other  parts  of 
Italy ; and  so,  it  may  be  said,  are  the  remains  of  Hercu- 
laneum and  Pompeii,  for  the  houses  in  those  cities  are 
generally  built  of  alternate  double  courses  of  brick,  and 
courses  of  stone  or  lava.  In  most  cases,  at  Rome  and  in 
the  provinces,  stucco  formed  the  surface  which  received 
the  decorations.  From  the  above  enumeration,  it  will  ap- 
pear how  much  more  variously  the  Romans  built  than  any 
of  their  predecessors  in  civilization  did.  In  Egypt  we  find  no 
indications  of  edifices  of  real  utility  or  convenience,  nothing 
but  temples  and  tombs, — and  in  Greece  there  is  but  a small 
addition  to  this  list ; but  in  Rome  are  found  specimens  of 
almost  every  variety  of  structure  that  men  in  civilized 
communities  require.  Much  of  this  also  may  be  attributed 
to  the  knowledge  they  possessed  of  the  properties  of  the 
arch,  which  may  be  considered  among  the  most  admirable 
and  useful  discoveries  ever  made  in  the  practical  applica- 
tions of  mechanical  science.  It  entered  into  the  composi- 
tion of  every  structure,  and  made  the  rudest  and  cheapest 
material  of  more  real  value  than  the  most  costly.  It  not 
only  superseded  the  use  of  long  stone  beams,  but  was 
constantly  used  in  places  where  indeed  joists  of  wood 
would  have  been  much  more  convenient,  giving  support 
to  the  opinion  that  even  the  Romans  were  not  skilled  in 
the  application  of  timber  to  their  edifices ; though,  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  Rome  could 
become  subject  to  such  a dreadful  conflagration  as  that 
which  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  if  timber  had  not 
been  employed  in  the  ordinary  houses  of  the  city  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  would  appear  from  existing  re- 
mains. The  domestic  structures  of  Herculaneum  and  Pom- 
peii were  evidently  never  very  susceptible  of  fire,  from  the 
small  quantity  of  timber  required  in  their  construction ; 
and  discoveries  which  are  made  from  time  to  time,  of  por- 
tions of  the  ordinary  houses  of  ancient  Rome,  under  the 
pavements  of  the  modern  city,  evince  that  they  were  very 
similar  to  them  in  almost  every  particular.  The  infrequency 
of  stairs,  and  the  meanness  of  those  which  exist,  leading  to 
upper  apartments  in  the  houses  of  those  cities,  leads  to  the 
belief  that  the  Romans  seldom  built  above  the  ground  story, 
and  that  their  skill  in  carpentry  was  not  very  great ; other- 
wise they  would  more  frequently  have  had  recourse  to  so 
easy  and  convenient  a mode  of  extending  room  as  upper 
stories  offer.  There  are,  however,  other  things  which  tend 
to  prove  that  carpentry  was  well  understood  by  the  Ro- 
mans; and  the  most  remarkable  is  the  bridge  that  Trajan 
built  over  the  Danube,  the  piers  of  which  are  said  by  Dion 
Cassius  to  have  been  150  feet  high  and  170  feet  apart. 
Now,  whether  the  bridge  itself  consisted  of  a wooden  plat- 
form, as  there  is  much  reason  to  believe,  or  was  of  stone 
arches,  as  the  historian  intimates,  the  skill  which  con- 
structed centring  for  the  latter,  or  laid  the  platform  from 
pier  to  pier  in  the  former  case,  of  that  immense  extent, 
was  amazing;  nevertheless,  such  skill  in  carpentry  is  not 
evinced  by  the  remains  of  the  civic  and  domestic  struc- 
tures of  the  Romans,  in  which  arching  in  all  its  varieties 
was  used  where  carpentry  would  have  been  better.  Of 
their  joinery  we  know  nothing;  but  it  does  not  appear, 
from  the  last-quoted  mode  of  ascertaining  such  things,  to 
nave  been  much  practised  by  them — mosaic  pavements 
supplying  the  place  of  flooring,  and  stucco  that  of  wain- 
scoting: the  luxury  of  windows  being  unknown,  their 
fittings  were  not  required ; and  doors,  it  would  appear, 
were  uncommon,  except  externally — the  internal  door- 
ways being  most  probably  covered  with  something  equi- 
valent to  the  quilted  leather  mats  suspended  from  the 
lintel,  which  are  used  instead  of  swinging  doors  at  the 
entrances  of  the  churches  in  Italy  at  the  present  time. 
Although  the  Romans  did  not  use  marble  to  the  extent 


that  has  been  supposed,  yet  they  were  extremely  luxurious  History, 
in  the  use  of  costly  stones.  Marbles  of  every  variety,  "Y''— ' 

and  from  all  parts,  were  used  in  Rome  ; and  columns  were 
made  of  Egyptian  and  other  granites,  and  porphyry.  In 
Greece,  and  the  Grecian  colonies  which  were  conquered 
by  Rome,  the  edifices  of  the  Romans  might  be  distin- 
guished by  the  foreign  marbles  used  in  them,  if  the  style 
of  their  execution  were  not  sufficient  otherwise  to  deter- 
mine them. 

The  mingling  of  columnar  and  arcaded  arrangements  in 
the  same  composition  appears  to  have  been  the  grand 
cause  of  the  deterioration  of  Roman  architecture.  It  oc- 
casioned unequal  and  inordinately  distended  intercolum- 
niations  and  broken  entablatures : these  a vitiated  taste 
repeated,  where  the  necessity  that  had  first  occasioned 
them  did  not  exist;  and  harmony  and  simplicity  being 
thus  destroyed,  the  practice  of  the  science  went  on  de- 
teriorating, till  it  was  made  to  produce  such  monstrous 
combinations  as  the  Palace  of  Diocletian  at  Spalatro,  and 
the  Temple  of  Pallas,  or  ruins  of  the  Forum  of  Nerva  in 
Rome,  present.  It  was  indeed  a fall  from  the  grandeur, 
harmony,  and  noble  simplicity  of  the  interior  of  the  Pan- 
theon in  its  pristine  state,  to  the  hall  or  xystum  of  the 
baths  of  Diocletian,  which  now  exists  as  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  with  its  straggling  columns  and 
broken  and  imperfect  entablature ; or  from  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Stator  to  that  of  Concord  or  the  arch  of  Septi- 
mius  Severus. 

Architecture  was  already  extinct  among  the  Romans 
when  the  seat  of  empire  was  transferred  to  Constantinople ; 
so  that,  however  great  was  the  extent  and  splendour  of 
its  edifices,  we  cannot  suppose  them  to  have  possessed  any 
of  those  qualities  which  give  to  the  Parthenon  at  Athens, 
and  to  the  interior  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome,  the  charm 
they  possess ; unless  the  Greeks  had  recourse  to  the 
monuments  of  their  own  country,  and  used  them  as  founts 
from  which  to  draw  matter  for  the  composition  of  the  edi- 
fices of  their  new  capital.  This,  indeed,  is  possible,  for 
there  appears  to  have  been,  even  in  Rome,  at  and  after 
the  time  of  Constantine,  a recurrence  to  the  ancient  sim- 
plicity, though,  truly,  without  any  of  that  beauty  and 
elegance  of  form  in  the  details,  and  of  proportion  in  the 
general  arrangement,  which  constitute  half  the  merit  of 
works  of  architecture.  The  change  of  religion  which 
took  place  under  Constantine  led  to  the  destruction  or 
destitution  of  many  of  the  noblest  structures  in  Rome. 

The  ancient  Christian  basilicas  are  for  the  most  part  con- 
structed of  the  ruins  of  the  more  ancient  Pagan  temples, 
baths,  and  mausoleums ; and  in  them  a much  greater  degree 
of  simplicity,  and  consequent  beauty,  pervades  the  colum- 
nar arrangements  than  existed  perhaps  in  some  of  the 
previous  combinations  of  the  same  materials.  Frequently, 
however,  the  collocation  of  various  parts  was  most  unapt ; 
and  gross  inconsistencies  were  recurred  to,  to  get  rid  of 
the  difficulty  of  combining  discordant  fragments.  Some- 
times it  was  necessary  to  make  up  with  new,  what  was 
wanting  of  old  materials,  whose  forms  were  rudely  imi- 
tated. 

In  those  countries  which  received  the  Christian  re- Gothic 
ligion  from  Rome,  but  which  did  not  contain  mines  of  or  Pointed 
architectural  material  in  temples,  amphitheatres,  and  pa- 
laces,  as  Italy  did,  and  indeed  in  the  other  parts  of  Italy ture' 
itself  which  did  not  contain  them  as  Rome  did,  churches 
were  constructed  in  imitation  of  those  of  the  metropolis 
of  the  Christian  world.  These,  being  the  work  of  a semi- 
barbarous  and  unpolished  people,  were  of  necessity  rude 
and  clumsy.  Hence  arose  the  Gothic  architecture  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  not  from  any  previously  existing  style 
of  architecture  among  the  northern  nations  who  overran 
Italy  and  subverted  the  Roman  power.  The  rude  Celtic 


A R C H I T 

History,  monuments  were  the  only  specimens  of  architecture  they 
possessed,  and  the  performance  of  their  unhallowed  rites 
appears  to  have  been  long  transferred  even  from  them  to 
the  groves,  or  it  may  be  that  the  stone  circles  and  temples 
themselves  were  called  groves.  This,  however,  is  of  but 
little  consequence  to  our  purpose.  The  fact  is  indisput- 
able, that  nothing  existed  among  those  nations  that  could 
have  given  rise  to  the  rude  style  of  architecture  referred 
to,  which  was  indeed  introduced  to  them  by  the  Christian 
religion  in  the  manner  we  have  stated.  It  will  be  found 
in  what  are  called  the  Saxon  and  Norman  styles  of  this 
country,  and  to  a greater  or  less  extent  in  all  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe  in  which  the  Romans  had  been  masters, 
and  particularly  in  those  which  adhered  to  the  Roman 
communion  in  the  great  division  of  the  churches.  The 
general  forms  and  modes  of  arrangement  peculiar  to  Ro- 
man architecture  may  be  traced  throughout;  in  some 
specimens  they  are  more,  and  in  others  less  obvious,  but 
the  leading  features  are  the  same.  This  is  more  evident 
in  Italy  than  elsewhere.  In  the  early  Roman  basilicas  and 
churches,  some  of  which  are  of  the  Constantinian  age,  and 
which  were  constructed  with  the  matter  and  in  the  man- 
ner related,  the  first  divergencies  occur ; in  those  which 
are  later  they  are  still  greater,  and  distance  of  time  and 
place  appears  still  to  have  increased  them,  till  what  may 
be  called  a new  style  was  formed,  having  peculiarities  of 
its  own,  but  yet  more  clearly  deducible  from  its  origin 
than  Roman  is  from  Greek  or  Greek  from  Egyptian.  As 
might  be  expected,  this  style  was  not  the  same  in  all  the 
countries  which  practised  it;  it  was  derived,  in  them  all, 
from  the  same  source  as  we  have  shown,  but  was  mate- 
rially influenced  by  the  habits,  manners,  and  state  of  civi- 
lization in  which  the  various  nations  were,  and  much  too 
by  their  means  of  communication  with  Rome.  This,  with 
strict  propriety,  may  be  called  Gothic  architecture,  as  it 
was  partly  induced  by  the  Gothic  invasions  of  Italy,  and 
was  most  generally  practised  by  the  nations  to  whom  that 
term  may  with  equal  propriety  be  applied.  It  arose  in 
the  fourth  century,  and  was  subverted  in  the  twelfth  by 
the  invention  or  introduction  of  the  pointed  arch,  which 
marks  a new  era,  and  was  destined  to  give  birth  to  a new 
style  in  architecture.  Where,  when,  and  by  whom  it  was 
invented  or  originated,  has  been  more  discussed  and  dis- 
puted than  the  discovery  of  the  properties  of  the  arch  it- 
self. Some  have  contended  that  it  was  suggested  by  the 
intersections  of  semicircular  arches,  as  they  were  employ- 
ed in  ornamenting  the  fronts  of  edifices  in  the  preceding 
style ; some,  that  groined  arches  of  the  same  form  gave 
the  idea ; others  have  referred  it  to  the  interlacing  of  the 
branches  of  trees  when  planted  in  parallel  rows, — to  an 
imitation  of  wicker-work, — to  a figure  used  on  conventual 
seals, — to  the  principle  of  the  pyramid, — to  Noah’s  Ark, 
— to  chance.  Its  invention  has  been  accorded  to  almost 
every  nation,  civilized  and  uncivilized.  It  has  been  claim- 
ed by  Germans  for  Germany,  by  Frenchmen  for  France, 
by  Scotsmen  for  Scotland,  and  by  Englishmen  for  Eng- 
land. Italians  have  not  directly  laid  claim  to  the  honour 
for  themselves,  but  it  has  been  given  them  by  others. 
Such  a mass  of  conflicting  opinions,  almost  all  supported 
by  some  show  of  reason,  and  more  or  less  by  evidence, 
may  be  called  a proof  of  the  impossibility  of  determining 
the  question,  and  therefore  we  shall  not  attempt  it.  There 
is  one  striking  fact,  however,  which  has  been  too  much 
overlooked  by  many  of  the  theorists  in  the  discussion  of 
the  question  ; it  is,  that  the  pointed  arch  made  its  appear- 
ance almost  at  the  same  moment  of  time  in  all  the  civi- 
lized countries  of  Europe.  This  is  proved  by  the  contro- 
versies of  those  who,  more  patriotically  than  philosophi- 
cally, claim  its  invention  for  their  respective  nations ; for 
none  of  them  can  produce  genuine  specimens  of  it  before 


ECTURE.  17 

a certain  period,  to  which  they  can  all  reach.  Now,  if  it  History, 
had  been  invented  in  any  of  the  European  nations,  that  S^"Y'W 
one  would  certainly  have  been  able  to  show  specimens  of 
it  of  a date  considerably  anterior  to  some  of  the  others ; 
for  though  it  might  by  chance  have  been  soon  communi- 
cated to  any  one  of  them,  the  improbability  is  great  that 
it  would  have  reached  them  all,  and  have  been  adopted 
by  all,  to  the  subversion  of  their  previously  existing  style 
of  architecture,  immediately.  The  infrequent  and  im- 
perfect modes  of  communication  between  the  different 
countries  of  Europe  at  the  period  referred  to,  furnish  an- 
other reason  why  it  is  not  probable  that  a discovery  of 
the  kind  should  travel  rapidly  from  one  to  another.  Con- 
sidering these  things,  and  particularly  the  fact  of  the  al- 
most simultaneous  introduction  of  the  pointed  arch  to  the 
various  nations  of  Europe,  as  it  appears  by  their  monu- 
ments immediately  after  the  first  crusade,  in  which  they 
all  bore  a part,  connected  with  existing  evidence  that  it 
was  commonly  used  in  the  East  at  and  anterior  to  that 
period,  it  seems  to  be  the  most  rational  theory,  that  a 
knowledge  of  it  was  acquired  by  the  crusaders  in  the 
Holy  Land,  and  brought  home  to  their  respective  coun- 
tries by  them.  This,  indeed,  is  the  opinion  of  many  of 
those  who  have  written  on  the  subject;  and  without  con- 
tending that  the  evidence  in  its  favour  is  quite  conclu- 
sive, we  think  it  more  satisfactory  than  any  other.  In 
Europe  there  are  found  rude  approaches  to  the  pointed 
arch  in  some  of  the  earlier  Gothic  structures;  but  we 
believe  it  may  be  safely  asserted,  that  nothing  can  be 
indicated  of  a date  beyond  that  of  the  first  crusade,  ap- 
proaching the  simple  but  perfect  lancet  arch,  which,  it 
is  not  denied,  came  into  use  immediately  after  that  pe- 
riod ; whereas  tolerably  well  authenticated  examples  of 
it  are  found  in  the  East,  of  sufficient  antiquity  to  in- 
duce the  opinion  that  it  wras  at  that  time  imported  from 
thence.  It  is,  moreover,  indisputable  that  the  Saracenic 
or  Mahometan  nations  do  use,  and  have  used,  the  point- 
ed arch ; but  they  were  never  known  to  adopt  any  Eu- 
ropean custom  or  invention  of  any  kind  till  very  lately 
How  then  can  they  be  supposed  to  have  availed  them- 
selves so  readily  as  they  must  have  done,  if  it  be  of  Eu- 
ropean origin,  of  so  unlikely  a thing  to  attract  a Mos- 
lem’s attention,  as  the  peculiar  form  and  structure  of  an 
arch  ? and  when  and  where  in  Europe  had  they  an  oppor- 
tunity of  contemplating  it  till  long  after  it  is  admitted  to 
have  been  in  common  use  among  them  ? With  what  na- 
tion of  the  East,  and  in  what  manner,  the  pointed  arch  ori- 
ginated, are  points  equally  difficult  to  solve.  We  have 
not  been  able  to  discover  that  the  properties  of  the  arch 
were  known  to  the  Egyptians  or  the  Greeks,  and  much 
less  so  were  they  to  the  Persians  and  Indians,  till  it  may 
have  been  communicated  from  Italy ; but  structures  are 
found  among  those  nations,  in  which  chambers  are  domed, 
and  apertures  headed,  in  the  form  of  a pointed  arch, 
but  produced  by  battering  or  corbelling  over.  It  is  not 
improbable,  therefore,  that  such  things  being  before  the 
eyes  of  men,  when  the  principles  of  the  arch  had  been  ac- 
quired, that  form  would  be  repeated  upon  it,  and  the  re- 
sult would  be  the  lancet  arch, — the  prototype,  the  germ  of 
the  style.  The  pointed  arch,  on  its  introduction  into  Eu- 
rope, does  not  appear  to  have  been  accompanied  by  its 
ordinary  accessories  in  after-time  ; its  light  clustered  pil- 
lars— its  mullions,  foliations  or  featherings,  and  graceful 
tracery — these  resulted  from  its  adoption : so  that  whe- 
ther the  arch  itself  was  invented  in  Europe,  or  imported 
from  the  East,  to  the  European  nations  must  be  assigned 
the  credit  of  educing  the  beautiful  style  of  architecture 
whose  distinguishing  feature  it  is. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  Venice  was  not  the  parent 
of  the  style,  for  very  early  specimens  of  the  pointed  arch 


18  A R CHIT 

History,  are  certainly  found  there,  in  private  houses  as  well  as  in 

'"•’'Y''"''  the  basilica  of  St  Mark.  In  the  former  they  are  gene- 
rally of  the  ogee  or  contrasted  form,  in  windows  formed  by 
columns  or  mullions,  with,  in  certain  places,  approaches  to 
foliations  and  tracery;  and  in  the  basilica  the  lancet  arch 
is  not  uncommon.  The  commercial  connection  of  that  city 
with  the  eastern  nations  may  easily  account  for  its  presence 
there,  even  before  the  first  crusade ; and  Venice  is  known 
to  have  been  one  of  the  thoroughfares  from  the  other 
parts  of  Europe  to  the  Holy  Land.  But  the  peculiar 
mode  of  arrangement  in  the  Venetian  style  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  adopted  north  of  the  Alps ; so  that, 
however  original  it  may  be,  it  can  hardly  be  considered 
the  progenetrix  of  the  school,  or  the  model  on  which  it  was 
formed. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  this  subject,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  determine  by  what  name  to  call  the  style  whose 
progress  we  have  yet  to  contemplate.  There  would  be 
no  greater  propriety  in  calling  it  Saracenic  because  its  dis- 
tinctive feature  originated  in  the  East,  even  if  that  point 
were  conceded,  than  in  calling  all  architectural  combina- 
tions which  derive  their  character  from  the  use  of  co- 
lumns in  them  by  the  name  of  the  nation  in  whose  works 
we  find  columns  first  used,  and  from  whom  the  idea  of 
them  may  have  been  acquired.  Neither  can  it  with  any 
degree  of  fitness  be  called  Gothic : that  term,  we  have 
seen,  applies  to  the  style  that  preceded  it,  and  was  first 
given  to  the  pointed-arch  style  opprobriously,  during  the 
offuscation  of  good  taste  that  succeeded  its  subversion. 
In  Italy  it  had  never  taken  root,  as  in  the  countries  north 
of  the  Alps — the  ancient  Roman  monuments  having  con- 
tinued to  influence  the  national  architecture,  it  would  ap- 
pear, throughout  the  middle  ages ; for  the  ecclesiastical 
structures  of  that  country,  though  rude,  were  never  so 
rude  as  they  were  in  other  places,  and  a better  style  had 
so  far  formed  itself  before  the  introduction  of  the  pointed 
arch,  that  it  was  hardly  received  there.  Indeed,  whatever 
edifices  of  merit  Italy  possesses  in  its  manner,  are,  with 
hardly  an  exception,  by  German  architects,  few  Italians 
having  ever  qualified  themselves  to  practise  it.  When, 
therefore,  what  has  been  called  “ the  revival  of  architec- 
ture” took  place  in  the  fifteenth  century,  under  Brunel- 
leschi and  his  successors,  the  rude  structures  of  their  own 
country,  the  precursors  and  contemporaries  of  our  Saxon 
and  Norman  edifices,  were  called  Gothic ; but  the  pointed 
style  was  always  distinguished  as  the  German  manner, 
Maniera  Tedesca.  The  disgrace  of  applying  the  oppro- 
brious term  Gothic  to  it  attaches  itself  to  an  Englishman, 
Sir  Henry  Wotton,  who  wrote  on  architecture  early  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  was  continued  by  Evelyn,  who  ap- 
plied it  more  directly ; and  the  authority  of  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wren  finally  settled  its  application.  Its  injustice  is, 

Plate  however,  rendered  very  obvious,  by  comparing  the  front 

LXXIY.  of  Pisa  cathedral,  the  best  example,  perhaps,  of  Gothic, 
or  merely  deteriorated  Roman  architecture,  with  that  of 
York  Minster,  which  holds  an  equal  rank  in  the  pointed 
style.  The  presence  of  the  pointed  arch,  on  the  singular 
oriental-looking  cupola  of  the  former,  shows  it  to  be  one 
of  the  latest  edifices  in  its  style,  overtaken  by  that  beftwe 
it  was  completely  finished.  Within  the  last  half-century 
a better  taste  has  been  formed,  in  this  country  particu- 
larly, and  has  led  to  the  appreciation  of  that,  which  is,  in- 
deed, our  national  style ; and  within  that  period  many 
attempts  have  been  made  to  explode  the  universally-de- 
cried, unjust,  and  totally  irrelevant  appellation,  but  with- 
out effect.  Sir  Christopher  Wren  himself  attempted  to 
change  it  to  Saracenic,  believing  that  not  merely  the  arch, 
but  the  style  generally,  was  borrowed  from  the  Saracens. 
It  was,  however,  too  late — he  had  already  used  the  other. 
Dr  Stukely  wished  to  call  it  Arabian.  Some  writers  called 


ECTU  R E. 

it  Italian,  others  German,  others  Norman  or  French,  History, 
others  British,  and  many  have  contended  for  the  exclu-  ' 

sive  term  English  ; and  to  this  last  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries lent  its  influence,  but  with  equal  inefficiency,  for 
the  term  Gothic  still  prevails.  Mr  Britton,  than  whom 
perhaps  no  man  possesses  an  equal  right  to  affix  an  appel- 
lation to  the  pointed-arch  style,  from  the  splendid  services 
he  has  done  it  in  the  publication  of  his  Cathedral  and  Ar- 
chitectural Antiquities,  wishes  to  introduce  a term  which 
is  not  at  all  unlikely  to  succeed,  as  it  is  equally  appro- 
priate and  independent  of  national  feeling  and  hypothetic 
origin.  He  calls  it  Christian  architecture.  This,  as  a 
generic  term,  would  admit  each  nation  possessing  speci- 
mens of  it  to  distinguish  its  own  species  or  style ; and  as 
the  varieties  of  Hellenic  architecture  are  known  by  the 
names  of  the  tribes  or  nations  who  are  presumed  to  have 
originated  them — Dorian,  Ionian,  and  Corinthian — so  might 
Christian  architecture  be  English  or  British,  German, 

French,  &c.  for  each  has  its  peculiarities.  These  species 
would  again  individually  admit  of  classification,  according 
to  the  changes  each  underwent  in  the  course  of  its  career. 

One  strong  objection,  however,  in  our  view  of  the  case, 
lies  to  Mr  Britton’s  distinctive  appellation.  It  is,  that 
“ Christian”  applies  as  well,  if  not  better,  to  the  real 
Gothic  style — that  which  arose  on  the  extinction  of  Roman 
architecture,  and  was  subverted  by  the  introduction  of 
the  pointed  arch,  and  which,  indeed,  owed  its  diffusion 
and  progress,  if  not  its  origin,  to  the  Christian  religion. 

We  are  therefore  still  left  to  seek  an  appellation ; and,  in 
the  absence  of  a better,  will  use  the  term  Pointed,  which 
is  not  only  distinctive,  but  descriptive ; and  it  has,  too,  the 
merit  of  being  general,  so  that  it  may  mark  the  genus, 
while  the  national  species  and  their  varieties  may  be  dis- 
tinguished by  their  peculiarities  as  before. 

The  Pointed  Arch  was  a graft  on  the  Gothic  architec- 
ture of  northern  Europe,  as  the  circular  arch  of  the  Ro- 
mans had  been  on  the  columnar  ordinances  of  the  Greeks ; 
but  with  a widely  different  result.  The  amalgamation  in 
the  latter  case  destroyed  the  beauty  of  both  the  stock 
and  the  scion  ; while  in  the  former  the  stock  lent  itself  to 
the  modifying  influence  of  its  parasitical  nursling,  gradu- 
ally gave  up  its  heavy,  dull,  and  cheerless  forms,  and  was 
eventually  lost  in  its  beautiful  offspring,  as  the  unlovely 
caterpillar  is  in  the  gay  and  graceful  butterfly. 

We  have  seen  that  architecture  had  its  origin  in  reli- 
gious feelings  and  observances — that  its  noblest  monu- 
ments among  the  pagan  nations  of  antiquity  were  temples 
to  the  divinity — that  the  rude  nations  of  the  north  in  the 
middle  ages  devoted  their  energies,  after  their  conversion 
to  Christianity,  to  the  construction  of  edifices  for  the 
worship  of  the  Almighty ; and  we  find,  again,  that  the 
most  extensive  and  most  splendid  structures  raised  by  the 
same  people,  when  the  light  of  learning  had  begun  to 
shine  upon  them,  and  a new  and  more  beautiful  style  of 
architecture  was  introduced,  were  dedicated  to  the  same 
purpose.  In  addition,  however,  many,  hardly  less  mag- 
nificent, and  not  less  beautiful,  were  raised  for  the  pur- 
poses of  education,  and  became  the  nurseries  of  science 
and  literature.  Kings  and  nobles  also  employed  architec- 
ture in  the  composition,  arrangement,  and  decoration  of 
their  palaces  and  castles  ; but  still,  for  domestic  purposes, 
its  aid  was  hardly  required  beyond  the  carving  grotesque 
ornaments  on  the  wooden  fronts  of  houses  in  towns. 

When  the  practice  of  building  houses  in  stories  com- 
menced cannot  be  correctly  ascertained  ; but  it  appears  to 
have  arisen  during  the  middle  ages.  We  frequently,  in- 
deed, find  an  apparent  equivalent  for  the  term  story  used 
by  the  ancient  writers,  both  sacred  and  profane ; but  it 
must  have  reference  to  something  else — some  peculiarity 
of  which  we  are  not  awrare ; for  none  of  the  ancient  re- 


A R C H I T 

History,  mains,  whether  of  public  or  private  structures,  give  rea- 
son  to  believe  that  it  was  a common  practice  even  among 
the  Romans ; much  less  was  it  likely  to  be  so  among  the 
eastern  nations,  with  whom  the  practice  is  not  very  gene- 
ral, nor  is  it  carried  to  great  extent  even  at  the  present 
day.  Indeed,  without  considerable  proficiency  in  the  art 
of  construction,  it  is  hardly  practicable  to  build  in  stories 
with  such  slight  materials  as  were  used  by  the  Romans  in 
their  domestic  edifices;  and  their  remains  do  not  evince 
the  requisite  degree  of  proficiency.  We  find,  however, 
in  the  oldest  existing  works  of  the  middle  ages,  and  par- 
ticularly in  some  of  the  secular  structures  of  Venice  which 
are  among  them,  a degree  of  intelligence  evinced  in  that 
respect  far  surpassing  any  thing  in  those  of  the  ancients. 
Possibly  the  skill  was  principally  acquired  in  that  city 
from  the  necessity  of  making  artificial  foundations,  in  the 
first  place,  which  in  their  turn  exacted  walls  not  unne- 
cessarily cumbrous ; and  to  make  slight  ones  sufficiently 
strong,  they  must  be  skilfully  bonded  in  themselves,  and 
bound  together,  which  could  only  be  done  by  means  of  a 
material  possessing  considerable  length  and  great  fibrous 
tenacity — whence  framed  floors  of  timber.  These,  by 
their  strength,  their  obvious  utility  and  convenience,  add- 
ed to  the  want  of  space  which  existed  in  a thriving  and 
populous  community  on  a very  restricted  spot  of  dry 
land,  superinduced,  in  the  second  place,  the  building  of 
additional  stories,  which  would  soon  be  imitated  in  other 
places.  But  in  what  manner  soever  the  improvement 
took  place,  the  fact  is  certain  that  the  acquisition  was 
made;  and  we  find  it  applied  in  all  the  works  of  the  Euro- 
pean nations,  both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  from  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries  downwards.  The  combination  of 
masonry  and  carpentry  in  building  tended  greatly  to  the 
advancement  of  both ; for,  it  being  required  at  times  to 
make  them  act  independently  of  each  other,  additional 
science  and  art  were  necessary,  as  the  proportions  must 
be  retained  that  were  given  to  similar  works  in  which  they 
co-operated.  Hence  the  wondrous  skill  evinced  in  the 
vaulted  roofs  and  ceilings,  in  the  towers  and  lofty  spires, 
of  some  of  our  Pointed  cathedrals  for  the  one,  and  the 
splendid  piece  of  construction  in  the  roof  of  Westminster 
Hall  for  the  other.  To  this  point  Sir  William  Chambers, 
who  was  no  depredator  of  the  merits  of  the  Romans  in 
architecture,  says,  “ In  the  constructive  part  of  architec- 
ture the  ancients  do  not  seem  to  have  been  great  profi- 
cients i”1  then  having  referred  many  of  what  he  calls  the 
“ deformities  observable  in  Grecian  buildings”  to  want  of 
skill  in  construction,  he  continues,  “ neither  were  the  Ro- 
mans much  more  skilful ; the  precepts  of  Vitruvius  and 
Pliny  on  that  subject  are  imperfect,  sometimes  erroneous, 
and  the  strength  or  duration  of  their  structures  is  more 
owing  to  the  quantity  and  goodness  of  their  materials 
than  to  any  great  art  in  putting  them  together.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  from  any  of  the  ancient  works  that  much  infor- 
mation can  be  obtained  in  that  branch  of  the  art.  To 
those  usually  called  Gothic  architects  we  are  indebted  for 
the  first  considerable  improvement  in  construction.  There 
is  a lightness  in  their  works,  an  art  and  boldness  of  execu- 
tion, to  which  the  ancients  never  arrived,  and  which  the 
moderns  comprehend  and  imitate  with  difficulty.  Eng- 
land contains  many  magnificent  specimens  of  this  species 
of  architecture,  equally  admirable  for  the  art  with  which 
they  are  built,  the  taste  and  ingenuity  with  which  they  are 
composed.”  To  this  Mr  Gwilt,  in  his  new  edition  of  Sir 
William’s  work,  adds  in  a note,  “ there  is  more  construc- 
tive skill  shown  in  Salisbury,  and  others  of  our  cathedrals, 
than  in  all  the  works  of  the  ancients  put  together.” 


E C T U II  E.  19 

Pointed  architecture  took  root  and  grew  with  the  great-  History, 
est  vigour  in  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  and  in  those 
provinces,  principally,  of  France  which  were  connected 
with  England;  but  in  this  country  its  course  is  the  most 
marked,  and  its  advances  are  the  most  easily  traceable. 

We  find  in  various  portions  of  the  same  edifice,  according 
to  the  period  of  its  construction,  exemplifications  of  the 
style,  from  the  ingrafting  of  the  simple  lancet  arch  on  the 
Norman  or  Gothic  piers  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.  to  the 
highly  enriched  groinings  and  ramified  traceries  of  the 
age  of  Henry  VII.;  but  the  changes  are  so  gradual,  and 
are  so  finely  blended,  that  the  one  in  advance  appears  natu- 
rally to  result  from  that  which  comes  before  it.  Whether 
the  nations  of  the  Continent,  then,  borrowed  from  us,  or 
were  themselves  originators,  it  is  very  clear  that  we  did 
not  borrow ; for  our  structures  bear  the  strongest  pos- 
sible marks  of  originality,  as  the  advances  can  be  traced 
from  one  thing  to  another  on  them ; and  such  is  not  so  com- 
pletely the  case  with  theirs.  Moreover,  the  latest  manner, 
and  certainly  not  the  least  beautiful,  the  Corinthian  order 
of  Pointed  architecture,  is  almost  peculiar  to  this  country. 

Neither  Germany  nor  France  can  produce  edifices  in  the 
style  of  St  George’s  Chapel  at  Windsor,  King’s  College 
Chapel  at  Cambridge,  and  Henry  VII.’s  Chapel  at  West- 
minster. The  structures  of  Scotland  in  the  Pointed  style 
so  much  resemble  those  of  England,  that  they  must  be 
considered  of  the  same  school ; Roslin  Chapel  is  one  of 
the  few  specimens  which  indicate  a connection  with  the 
Continent.  Ireland  contains  but  few  examples  in  any 
degree  of  perfection,  and  they  are,  of  course,  of  the  Eng- 
lish school.  The  German  school  was  next  in  merit  to  the 
English  in  the  practice  of  Pointed  architecture.  In  the 
extent  and  magnificence  of  its  attempts,  perhaps,  that 
country  excelled ; but  few  of  the  great  structures  in  Ger- 
many were  ever  completed.  In  regularity,  however,  they 
have  generally  an  advantage  over  those  of  England,  being 
mostly  in  the  same  manner  throughout,  as  far  as  they 
were  carried ; whereas  few  of  the  greater  edifices  of  this 
country  were  begun  and  completed  without  considerable 
variations  in  the  style.  But  the  Germans  were  never  so 
successful  in  the  splendour  and  beauty  of  their  interiors  as 
the  English ; indeed  in  that  particular  our  Pointed  struc- 
tures are  strikingly  superior  to  every  other ; nor  is  their 
ornament  generally  so  effective  as  ours.  The  Flemish 
style  of  Pointed  architecture  is  hardly  a variety  of  the 
German,  but  may  be  classed  with  it  through  the  whole 
course  of  its  history.  Italy,  we  have  said,  possesses  but 
few  structures  in  the  Pointed  style,  and  they  are  for  the 
most  part  the  work  of  German  architects,  which  their 
appearance  indeed  bespeaks.  Milan  cathedral,  or  “ the 
Duomo,”  as  it  is  called,  is  the  most  renowned  edifice  in 
the  style  that  Italy  contains;  but  it  has  few  beauties  in 
the  eyes  of  those  who  are  accustomed  to  the  models  of 
Great  Britain,  Normandy,  and  Germany.  The  Patri- 
archal Church  of  St  Mark  at  Venice  is  a genus  per  se.  It 
was  constructed  by  a Constantinopolitan  architect  in  the 
ninth  or  tenth  century,  and  may  be  a specimen  of  the  ar- 
chitecture of  the  Byzantine  capital  at  that  time.  The  few 
examples  in  Sicily  of  the  pointed  arch  may  be  attributed 
to  the  Norman  conquerors  of  that  island;  and  so  indeed 
may  most  of  those  which  are  found  in  the  continental 
part  of  the  same  kingdom.  Although  France  contains 
many  fine  specimens  of  Pointed  architecture,  it  can  hardly 
be  considered  indigenous  to  that  country.  On  the  Ger- 
man frontier  they  resemble  the  German  style;  and  in  the 
provinces  which  were  formerly  connected  with  England 
they  are  different,  and  more  like  the  English  styles  : cer- 


1 Gwilt’s  Chambers's  Civ.  Arch.  p.  128. 


20 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  tain  it  is,  that  after  their  connection  with  this  country 
was  broken  off,  its  practice  fell  into  disuse,  and  nothing 
of  consequence  in  it  was  posteriorly  produced  in  any  of 
them.  This  fact  is  an  argument  against  the  presumption 
that  England  was  indebted  to  Normandy  and  Norman 
architects  for  its  improvements  in  Pointed  architecture  ; 
it  tends  rather  to  prove  the  opposite.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed, moreover,  that  there  is  an  air  of  cumbrous  mas- 
siveness in  the  Pointed  style  of  Normandy  which  renders 
it  peculiar,  and  perhaps  marks  its  more  close  relationship 
with  the  earlier  Norman  Gothic.  Like  the  German 
examples,  too,  those  of  France  are  generally  inferior  in  in- 
ternal richness  and  beauty  to  those  of  England.  Pointed 
architecture  in  Spain  never  acquired  that  degree  of  con- 
sistency and  elegance  which  might  justify  us  in  speaking 
of  the  Spanish  specimens  of  it  as  forming  a style.  The 
edifices  in  Spain  of  the  ages  of  Pointed  architecture  are 
more  in  accordance  with  the  Moorish  than  with  the  Euro- 
pean manner,  and  may  perhaps  be  more  correctly  con- 
sidered as  an  off-shoot  of  the  former  than  of  the  latter. 
Though  not  in  the  Pointed  style,  the  Moorish  or  Saracenic 
structures  in  Spain  may  be  referred  to  here.  They  are 
in  a very  peculiar  manner,  which,  it  would  appear,  their 
authors  brought  with  them  from  the  East.  Probably  it 
grew  out  of  some  of  the  earlier  styles  of  architecture,  as 
the  Gothic  and  Pointed  did  out  of  the  Roman,  and  was  not 
the  result  of  design.  The  really  distinctive  feature  of  the 
Saracenic  style  is  the  horse-shoe  arch,  which  is  the  greater 
segment  of  an  ellipsis,  nearly,  on  a conjugate  chord.  The 
columns  from  which  the  arches  are  sprung  are  slender, 
and  the  superincumbent  masses  are  broad  and  heavy, 
giving  an  air  of  the  intermingling  of  Chinese  and  Egyp- 
tian, both  of  which  this  style  may  be  said  to  assimilate. 
The  enrichments  of  Saracenic  architecture  are  very  much 
confined  to  flat  surfaces,  the  walls  being  sculptured  all 
over  with  monotonous  ornaments,  which  produce  an  effect 
verv  similar  to  that  produced  by  the  hieroglyphics  on  the 
flat  surfaces  of  the  Egyptian  temples,  and  possibly  were 
derived  from  them.  The  most  distinguished  monument 
of  this  style  in  Spain  is  the  Alhamra  at  Granada.  The 
most  distinguished  specimen  of  Pointed  architecture  in 
Portugal  is  the  church  of  the  convent  of  Batalha,  which 
was  constructed  by  an  Irish  architect,  who  appears  to 
have  modified  the  style  of  his  own  country  (the  English), 
by  the  manner  of  the  country  itself,  which  is  nearly  that 
of  Spain. 

What  the  expansive  dome  is  to  Roman  architecture,  the 
graceful  spire  is  to  Pointed.  Bell-towers  appear  to  have 
been  added  to  Christian  churches  at  a very  early  period ; 
but  it  is  much  to  be  doubted  whether  the  pyramidal  pin- 
nacle or  spire  was  ever  used  before  the  introduction  of 
the  pointed  arch,  though  one  or  two  doubtful  examples 
exist.  These,  certainly  the  earliest  specimens  of  it,  are 
simple  cones,  whose  vertical  bisection  would  be  nearly  an 
equilateral  triangle : the  angle  at  the  apex  was  gradually 
made  less,  and  as  it  diminished  the  altitude  was  increased, 
till  at  length  resulted  an  object  even  more  beautiful  than 
an  Egyptian  obelisk,  which  would  of  itself  indeed  be  a 
sufficient  warranty  for  the  appellation  we  have  given  to  the 
style  that  it  crowns.  The  spire  was  at  first  round,  solid, 
and  unornamented;  it  then  became  polygonal,  and  finally 
octagonal,  though  there  are  examples  of  square  spires. 
They  were  sometimes  plainly  ribbed,  sometimes  crocket- 
ed,  and  in  some  instances  were  pierced ; and  were  almost 
invariably  surmounted  by  a rich  finial  in  the  style  of  or- 
nament peculiar  to  the  time  of  its  execution.  In  some 
cases  the  whole  structure  was  a pyramis  or  spire,  and  in 
others  the  spire  rested  on  a rectangular  and  upright  tower. 
The  Rev.  W.  L.  Bowles  has  suggested  that  the  spire  was 
at  first  built  on  the  bell-tower  as  a beacon  or  land-mark 


for  the  guidance  of  the  traveller  and  the  distant  parish-  History 
ioner ; and  adduces  as  evidence,  the  fact,  that  in  the  hilly 
parts  of  England  spires  are  hardly  to  be  found  except,  in 
modern  churches.  The  old  village  church  on  a hill  has  a 
plain  square  tower,  merely  consisting  of  about  two  cubes, 
which  can  be  seen  at  the  greatest  distance  the  nature  of 
the  country  will  allow  any  object  to  be  distinguished ; 
whereas  in  the  level  parts  of  the  country,  where  a low 
tower  would  be  lost  amidst  the  foliage  of  its  own  church- 
yard, and  be  completely  indistinguishable  at  a very  short 
distance,  spires  are  their  almost  invariable  accompani- 
ment. It  may  be  added,  that  the  tapering  spire  is  almost 
unknown  in  Italy  and  France,  except  Normandy ; and  in 
no  part  of  the  Continent  is  it  so  common  as  in  this  coun- 
try. 

We  have  already  given  our  reasons  for  thinking  that 
the  pointed  arch  originated  in  the  East ; but  whether  it  did 
or  did  not,  it  has  been  very  extensively  used  in  various 
parts  of  Asia,  and  nowhere  in  more  sumptuous  edifices, 
or  to  such  effect,  as  by  the  Mohammedan  conquerors  of 
India  in  various  parts  of  that  country. 

The  opening  of  the  Italian  school  of  architecture  on  Italian 
the  resuscitated  dogmas  of  Vitruvius  was  the  signal  for  school  of 
the  extinction  of  that  of  the  beautiful  Pointed  style.  For-arcll*tec* 
tunately,  however,  its  effects  were  a full  century  in  reach-ture' 
ing  this  country,  and  during  that  period  many  of  our 
most  elegant  structures  came  into  being;  and  many  of 
those  of  earlier  date  which  had  been  commenced  before, 
or  during  the  wars  of  the  Roses,  and  left  unfinished,  were 
completed.  The  first  indication  we  have  of  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Cinquecentist , the  real  Goth,  is  in  the  tomb 
of  Henry  VII.,  which  was  executed  by  Torregiano,  an 
Italian  artist,  who,  it  would  appear,  was  obliged  to  have 
some  respect  to  the  style  of  the  edifice  in  which  his  work 
was  to  rest ; but  his  preconceived  ideas  of  propriety  and 
beauty  were  too  strong  to  allow  him  to  omit  the  cha- 
racteristics of  his  school,  and  the  result  is  a strange  mix- 
ture of  both.  From  that  time  the  Pointed  style  was 
rapidly  deteriorated,  being  overborne  by  the  devices  of 
Italy.  On  the  Continent  the  latter  were  already  predo- 
minant, for  during  the  whole  of  the  fifteenth  century  the 
current  had  been  setting  from  Italy  over  every  part  of 
Europe  which  received  its  religion  from  Rome ; and  this 
country  was  only  the  last  to  be  overwhelmed  by  it.  Be- 
fore quitting  the  part  of  the  subject  having  reference  to 
our  national  style  of  architecture,  it  may  be  well  to  con- 
trovert the  absurd  but  too  prevalent  idea,  that  we  are  in- 
debted to  foreigners,  and  particularly  Italians,  for  the  ex- 
cellence of  our  ancient  works.  After  what  has  been  al- 
ready said,  perhaps  it  may  be  unnecessary  to  do  so  here, 
seeing  that  we  have  described  our  specimens  of  the  Point- 
ed style  as  being  not  only  fully  equal  in  composition,  con- 
struction, and  execution  to  those  of  any  other  country, 
but  that  they  are  absolutely  in  a different  manner,  having 
peculiarities  which  no  other  nation  has  ever  equalled  in 
beauty  and  elegance.  But,  to  put  the  case  in  a clear  point 
of  view  : If  foreigners  were  employed  to  design  and  ex- 
ecute for  us,  it  is  not  less  strange  that  they  should  sur- 
pass their  own  works  at  home,  than  that  they  should  make 
inventions  and  improvements  for  us  (or  let  them  be  call- 
ed mere  variations)  which  were  not  in  turn  executed  in 
their  own  countries.  We  know  very  well  that  works  of 
architecture  and  sculpture  which  have  been  executed  by 
foreigners  in  this  country,  since  the  explosion  of  Pointed 
architecture,  are  in  the  style  of  Italy  or  France,  and  not 
according  to  the  manner  prevalent  in  this  country  at  the 
time  of  their  execution.  Moreover,  for  one  whole  cen- 
tury this  nation  alone  adhered  to  the  Pointed  style,  dur- 
ing which  works  were  produced,  that,  for  originality,  exu- 
berance of  fancy,  and  beauty,  spirit,  and  excellence  of  ex- 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  ecution,  have  been  seldom  equalled  and  never  surpassed ; feet  this?  Did  they  examine  and  study  the  remains  of  History, 
while  all  the  architects,  artists,  and  workmen  of  the  Con-  antiquity  in  Greece  and  Rome,  in  Italy  and  elsewhere  ? 
tinent  were  rendered  totally  unable  to  assist  us  by  the  No ! they  referred  to  the  writings  of  an  obscure  Latin 
change  which  had  taken  place  in  their  practice.  If  this  author,  who  professed  to  give  the  principles  and  practice 
required  proof,  it  is  proved  in  the  case  of  Torregiano  of  architecture  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  but  paid 
just  referred  to,  who  sculptured  Henry  VII.’s  tomb,  and  no  more  attention  to  the  existing  architectural  works  of 
in  that  of  Hans  Holbein,  who  designed  architectural  works  those  nations  than  if  they  had  never  been,  although  one 
for  us  in  the  classical  manner ; and  if  the  Torregianos  could  hardly  walk  the  streets  of  any  of  the  old  cities  in 
and  Holbeins  had  been  employed  during  the  15th  century,  the  south  of  Italy  without  seeing  Roman  edifices,  whilst 
would  they  not  have  done  the  same  ? Rome  and  its  vicinity  was,  as  it  still  is,  full  of  them.  All 

If  the  architecture  of  Italy  never  fell  away  so  much  the  use,  however,  that  these  self-called  “ restorers”  of 
from  the  more  classic  style  of  Imperial  Rome  as  that  of  architecture  made  of  the  works  of  the  ancients,  was  to  use 
the  northern  nations  did,  neither  did  that  country  ever  them  as  lay-figures,  or  frame-work,  to  model  on,  according 
possess  that  more  than  equivalent,  whose  splendid  course  to  the  proportions  and  directions  given  by  Vitruvius ; and 
we  have  last  noticed.  Whilst  the  Pointed  style  was  al-  the  effect  was  formality  and  mannerism  in  those  who  ad- 
most  exclusively  known  and  practised  in  Germany,  France,  hered  to  the  dogmas  of  the  school,  and  wild  grotesqueness 
and  the  British  Islands,  the  Italians  were  gradually  im-  in  those  who  allowed  themselves  to  wander  from  them, 
proving  on  their  Gothic  style ; yet  the  improvement  was  whilst  simplicity,  and  its  consequence  good  taste,  were 
more  evinced  in  their  secular  than  in  their  ecclesiastical  effectually  banished  from  the  works  of  them  all. 
structures.  Florence,  Bologna,  Ferrara,  Venice,  and  many  It  will  be  necessary  here,  perhaps,  before  we  advance 
other  cities  of  Italy,  contain  palaces  and  mansions  of  the  further  in  our  remarks  on  the  Italian  school,  to  disabuse 
twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries,  which  for  the  public  mind  as  to  the  merit  of  the  works  of  Vitruvius, 
simplicity  and  classical  beauty  far  excel  most  of  those  in  whose  anilities  have  so  long  passed  for  authorities,  that  a 
the  same  and  other  places  of  the  three  subsecutive  cen-  writer  would  be  suspected  of  prejudice  who  spoke  of  them 
turies.  The  contemporary  churches,  however,  do  not  ex-  slightingly  without  adducing  reason  and  evidence  to  prove 
hibit  the  same  degree  of  improvement,  forming,  as  it  were,  them  valueless ; except,  indeed,  as  records  of  the  architec- 
an  anomaly  in  the  history  of  architecture ; a change  in  it  tural  practice,  and  the  opinions  and  acquirements  of  an  ar- 
being  first  developed  in  secular  structures,  and  then  ap-  chitect  of  a distant  age.  It  is  of  very  little  consequence 
plied  to  those  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  divinity ; for  that  Vitruvius  is  only  known  by  his  own  writings,  but  that 
many  of  the  churches  of  the  fifteenth  century  are  in  this,  mention  of  him  by  a contemporary  or  other  ancient  author 
which  may  be  called  the  early  Italian  style,  or  Trecento,  as  would  probably  determine  the  age  in  which  he  lived, 
that  which  followed  it  is  known  as  the  Cinquecento d Cir-  From  several  things  he  mentions,  and  his  inscription  or 
cular  arches,  and  plain  continuous  horizontal  cornices,  and  dedication  to  the  “ Imperator  Caesar,”  it  has  been  con- 
pilasters  but  slightly  projected,  with  simple  but  generally  eluded  that  he  lived  in  the  time  of  Augustus  ; but  certain- 
tasteful  and  elegant  enrichments  of  foliage  and  carved  ly  without  sufficient  reason ; for  if  the  man  he  speaks  of 
mouldings,  are  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the  Tre-  as  the  son  of  Masinissa  had  been  the  son  of  the  celebrat- 
cento  ; but  columns,  and  the  arrangements  depending  on  ed  Numidian  of  that  name,  in  the  course  of  nature  neither 
them,  except  as  collocated  with  pilasters,  are  very  infre-  he  nor  Vitruvius  could  have  lived  to  the  time  of  Augustus, 
quent  in  it.  In  various  parts  of  Italy,  and  particularly  in  But  he  addresses  an  emperor  who  succeeded  his  father 
Venice  and  some  of  the  Venetian  cities,  this  style  pro-  an  emperor,  and  speaks  of  a temple  of  Augustus;  so  that 
duced  many  of  its  best  works,  both  secular  and  ecclesias-  he  must  have  been  a contemporary  of  some  period  of  the 
tical,  even  during  the  fifteenth  century  ; but  it  gradually  empire.  If  that  period  had  been  the  Augustan,  he  would 
gave  way  to,  though  in  some  instances  its  influence  may  doubtlessly  have  made  some  reference  to  some  of  the 
be  traced  even  when  it  had  been  overborne  by,  the  new  many  distinguished  men  of  that  age,  or  have  been  refer- 
style.  red  to  by  some  of  them  if  he  had  himself  been  at  all 

The  first  step  taken  towards  the  reformation  of  archi-  known  or  distinguished  as  his  admirers  insist  he  was; 
lecture  was  by  Filippo  Brunelleschi,  a Florentine  archi-  neither  of  which  is  the  case;  and,  moreover,  his  language 
tect,  who  was  employed  to  finish  the  cathedral  or  duomo  is  not  that  of  an  educated  man  of  the  Augustan  age. 
of  his  native  city  early  in  the  15th  century ; a work  which  This,  however,  does  not  affect  the  merit  of  his  work  as 
had  been  commenced  more  than  a century  before  on  the  a treatise  on  architecture ; but  his  fables  about  the  ori- 
design  of  Arnolpho,  a Florentine  also,  but  which  still  re-  gin  of  building,  the  invention  of  the  orders,  and  the  ar- 
quired  the  cupola  when  its  completion  was  intrusted  to  rangements  which  grew  out  of  certain  modes  of  construc- 
Brunelleschi.  The  edifice  is  in  the  Italian  Gothic  style,  tion,  do  so ; by  proving  his  total  ignorance  not  only  of 
slightly  modified  by  what  we  have  termed  the  Trecento , the  architectural  works  of  the  more  ancient  eastern  na- 
which  his  superior  taste  and  talent  induced  him  to  at-  tions,  but  of  those  of  Greece  itself,  which  he  professes  to 
tempt  to  supersede,  and  bring  the  world  back  to  the  clas-  describe.  Now  his  classical  taste,  in  consequence  of  his 
sic  style  of  ancient  Rome.  The  construction  of  the  cupola  knowledge  of  antiquity,  is  vaunted  by  Perrault,  one  of 
gained  him  great  reputation  and  the  confidence  of  the  pub-  his  commentators,  and  given  by  him  as  a reason  why  Vi- 
lic,  which  he  employed  to  advance  his  favourite  scheme,  truvius  was  not  much  employed  by  the  whimsical  Romans 
To  use  the  words  of  an  Italian  writer  on  the  subject,  in  tbeir  love  of  variety,  to  which  he  would  not  administer. 

“ On  the  example  of  so  wise  and  skilled  a man,  other  How  far  his  knowledge  of  antiquity,  that  is,  according  to 
architects  afterwards  devoted  themselves  to  free  architec-  himself,  of  the  works  of  the  Greeks,  extended,  may  be 
ture  of  the  monstrosities  introduced  by  barbarism  and  ex-  readily  determined  by  comparing  the  designs  of  Greek 
cessive  license,  and  to  restore  it  to  its  primitive  simplicity  structures,  made  by  Perrault  and  others,  according  to 
and  dignity.”* 2  But  to  what  did  they  have  recourse  to  ef-  the  directions  of  Vitruvius,  with  the  Greek  structures 


Cinquecento  means  literally  five  hundred , but  it  is  used  as  a contraction  for  fifteen  hundred,  or  rather  for  one  thousand  five  hundred , 
by  the  omission  of  mille , the  century  in  which  the  revival  of  architecture,  of  which  we  are  about  to  speak,  took  place ; and  the  manner 
consequent  is  so  designated.  Trecento  would  be  three  hundred,  or  the  third , for  the  thirteenth  century. 

2 I.e  Fab.  e i Disegni.  di  A.  Palladio  da  O.  B.  Scamozzi,  tomo  i.  p.  4. 


22  ARC  H I T 

History,  themselves  as  they  exist  at  the  present  time,  and  are 
faithfully  delineated  in  various  modern  works,  but  espe- 
cially in  Stuart  and  Revett’s  Antiquities  of  Athens.  It 
is  indeed  not  less  strange  than  true,  that  not  a single  ex- 
ample of  Greek  architecture  will  bear  out  a single  rule 
which  Vitruvius  prescribes,  professedly  on  its  authority  ; 
and  not  an  existing  edifice,  or  fragment  of  an  edifice,  in 
form  or  proportion,  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  any  law 
of  that  author,  nor  indeed  are  they  generally  referable  to 
the  principles  he  lays  down.  Examples  might  be  cited 
almost  to  infinity  in  support  of  this  statement,  and  to 
prove  the  inutility  of  a work  consisting  of  mere  descrip- 
tions without  delineations,  even  if  it  were  otherwise  cor- 
rect. The  latter  may  certainly  be  supplied  from  the  an- 
cient remains  when  they  exist ; but  to  a man  in  posses- 
sion of  the  specimens,  descriptions  and  directions  for 
their  composition  are  quite  unnecessary.  Even  Sir  Wil- 
liam Chambers,  a distinguished  disciple  of  the  Italian  or 
Vitruvian  school,  speaks  very  lightly  of  the  advantage  to 
be  gained  from  the  study  of  the  Vitruvian  principles  of 
construction  ; and  Mr  Gwilt,  in  the  introductory  treatises 
to  and  notes  on  Sir  William  Chambers’s  work,  has  done 
much  to  undermine  the  authority,  by  exposing  the  absur- 
dities and  fallacies  of  the  Magnus  Apollo  of  pseudo-classi- 
cal architecture.  A student  would  acquire  as  correct  a 
knowledge  of  history  and  geography  from  the  Seven 
Champions  of  Christendom  and  Gulliver’s  Travels,  as  of 
architecture  from  the  text  of  Vitruvius  1 

The  adoption  of  the  Vitruvian  laws  by  the  Italian  archi- 
tects of  the  15th  century  led  to  the  formation  of  the 
“ Five  Orders.”  It  will  have  been  observed  that,  in 
speaking  of  the  course  of  Greek  and  Roman  architecture, 
the  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian  styles  were  mentioned. 
Vitruvius  describes,  in  addition  to  these,  another,  which 
he  calls  Tuscan — possibly  a style  of  columnar  arrange- 
ment peculiar  to  Italy,  and  most  likely  of  Etrurian  ori- 
gin ; but,  in  the  absence  of  delineations,  the  Cinquecentists 
could  only  apply  the  proportions  he  laid  down  for  it,  to 
what  appeared  to  approximate  them  in  the  ancient  re- 
mains ; and  hence  arose  a fourth,  or  “ the  Tuscan  Order.” 
It  is,  however,  a mere  modification  of  the  Roman  debase- 
ment of  the  Doric,  and  may  be  considered,  in  its  present 
form,  as  of  purely  modern  Italian  origin.  The  same 
“ Revivers,”  on  looking  among  the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome 
for  the  forms  of  their  Vitruvian  orders,  found  specimens 
of  a foliated  ordinance,  which  the  bad  taste  of  the  Ro- 
mans had  compounded  of  the  foliated  and  voluted  styles  of 
the  Greeks.  This  was  seized  upon  as  a fifth  style,  sub- 
jected to  certain  rules  and  proportions,  and  called  “ the 
Composite  Order.”  The  very  poor  Roman  specimens  of 
Doric  and  Ionic  fitted  themselves  without  much  difficulty 
to  the  Vitruvian  laws ; but  the  examples  Rome  afforded  of 
the  Corinthian  were  less  tractable,  and  being  as  various 
as  they  are  generally  beautiful,  they  were  all  passed  over, 
and  their  places  supplied  by  a mere  changeling — an  epitome 
of  the  Vitruvian  theory.  Thus  we  have  the  “ Five  Orders” 
of  the  Italo-Vitruvian  school,  and  in  this  manner  they 
are  arranged:  First,  the  Tuscan,  of  which  there  is  no  re- 
cognised example  of  antiquity,  but  which  owes  its  form 
to  the  descriptions  of  Vitruvius  and  the  fancies  of  the  re- 
vivers ; second,  the  Doric,  a poor  and  tasteless  arrangement 
of  the  general  features  of  the  style  on  a Roman  model ; 
third,  the  Ionic,  which  is  almost  as  great  a debasement  of 
the  Grecian  originals,  and  was  produced  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  last-mentioned ; fourth,  the  Corinthian,  a 
something  totally  unlike  the  ancient  examples  of  both 
Greece  and  Rome  in  beauty  and  spirit ; and , fifth,  the 
Composite,  an  inelegant  variety  of  the  Corinthian,  or  a 
hybrid  mixture  of  the  horned  or  angular-ionic  volutes, 
with  a deep  necking  of  the  foliage  of  the  preceding  order. 


£ C T U 11  E. 

The  first  to  publish  this  system  was  Leon  Battista  Al-  History, 
berti,  a pupil  of  Brunelleschi.  He  has  been  followed  byv~^"'v^v- 
many  others,  the  most  distinguished  of  whom  are,  Pal- 
ladio, Vignola,  Scamozzi,  Serlio,  and  De  Lorme,  archi- 
tects ; and  Barbaro,  a Venetian  prelate,  and  an  esteemed 
translator  of,  and  commentator  on,  Vitruvius.  None  of 
these,  it  must  be  understood,  agreed  with  any  other  of 
them,  but  each  took  his  own  view  of  the  meaning  of 
their  common  preceptor ; and  yet  none  of  their  produc- 
tions evince  the  slightest  approach  to  the  elegance  of 
form  and  beauty  of  proportion  which  distinguish  the 
classic  models  of  the  columnar  architecture  of  antiquity. 

Palladio  and  Serlio  were  the  first  to  publish  delineations 
and  admeasurements  of  the  Roman  architectural  remains 
in  Italy ; but  the  total  absence  of  verisimilitude  to  the 
originals,  and,  in  many  cases,  the  absolute  misrepresen- 
tations, in  both  works,  prove  how  incompetent  the  au- 
thors were  to  appreciate  their  merits ; and  the  exagge- 
ration of  their  defects  proves  with  equal  clearness  the 
general  bad  taste  of  the  school  in  which  they  are  masters. 

The  worst  qualities  of  the  Roman  school  of  architecture 
were  embraced  and  perpetuated  by  the  Cinquecento . 

The  inharmonious  and  unpleasing  combinations  which 
arose  out  of  the  collocation  of  arches  with  columnar  ordi- 
nances became  the  characteristics  of  the  Italian  : unequal 
intercolumniations,  broken  entablatures,  and  stylobates, 
enter  alike  into  the  productions  of  the  best  and  of  the  worst 
of  the  Cinquecento  architects.  The  style  of  this  school 
is  marked,  too,  by  the  constant  attachment  of  columns 
and  their  accessories  to  the  fronts  or  elevations  of  build- 
ings; by  the  infrequency  of  their  use  in  insulated  (their 
natural)  positions  to  form  porticoes  and  colonnades ; by 
the  thinness  or  want  of  breadth  in  the  smaller  members 
of  their  entablatures,  and  the  bad  proportion  of  the  larger 
parts,  into  which  they  are  divided,  to  one  another;  by 
the  general  want  of  that  degree  of  enrichment  which 
fluting  imparts  to  columns ; by  the  too  great  projection 
of  pilasters,  and  the  inconsistent  practice  of  diminishing, 
and  sometimes  fluting  them ; by  the  use  of  circular  and 
twisted  pediments,  and  the  habit  of  making  breaks  in 
them  to  suit  the  broken  ordinance  they  may  crown ; and 
by  various  other  inconsistencies  and  deformities,  which 
will  be  rendered  more  evident  when  we  come  to  treat  of 
the  style  in  detail.  The  merit  of  the  Italian  school  con- 
sists in  the  adaptation  and  collocation  of  the  prolate  hemi- 
spheroidal  cupola,  which  appears  to  have  grown  out  of 
its  opposite  in  the  Roman  works  during  the  Gothic  ages, 
as  we  find  it  in  the  early  cathedrals ; though  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  idea  was  brought  from  the  East,  in  the 
forms  exhibited  by  the  cupolas  of  St  Marks  at  Venice, 
and  of  Pisa  cathedral.  A very  noble  style  of  Palatial 
architecture  also  was  practised  by  many  of  the  Italian 
architects.  It  consists  of  the  use  of  a grand  crowning 
cornice,  running  in  one  unbroken  line,  unsurmounted  by 
an  attic,  or  any  thing  of  the  kind,  superimposing  a broad, 
lofty,  and  generally  well-proportioned  front,  made  into 
graceful  compartments,  but  not  storied,  by  massive  block- 
ing courses  and  other  things,  which  are  at  the  disposal  of 
the  judicious  architect.  Not  unfrequently,  however,  the 
faults  of  the  school  interfere  to  injure  a composition  of 
this  kind  ; for,  to  produce  variety  in  the  decorations  of  the 
windows,  some  of  them  have  been  made  like  doors,  with 
distyle  arrangements  of  columns,  surmounted  by  alterna- 
tions of  circular  and  angular  pediments,  and  sometimes 
with  all  the  vagaries  which  deform  the  front  of  an  Italian 
church.  It  is  indeed  the  ecclesiastical  architecture  of 
the  school  in  which  its  faults  are  most  rife  and  its 
merits  most  rare.  An  Italian  church  possesses  nothing 
of  the  stern  simplicity  and  imposing  grandeur  of  an 
Egyptian  sacred  structure — nothing  of  the  harmonious 


A R C H I T 

History,  beauty  and  classic  dignity  of  a Grecian  fane — nothing 
of  the  ornate  and  attractive  elegance  of  a Roman  temple 
— and  nothing  truly  of  the  glittering  grace  and  capti- 
vating harmony  of  a Pointed  cathedral.  No  other  style 
of  architecture  presents  so  great  a contrast,  in  any 
two  species  of  its  productions,  as  the  Italian  does,  in 
one  of  its  ordinary  church  fronts,  with  the  front  of 
a nobleman’s  mansion  or  palace,  in  the  manner  already 
referred  to ; and  in  no  city  of  Italy  is  the  contrast  so 
strong,  by  the  egregiousness  of  the  examples  it  contains 
of  both,  as  Rome.  The  stately  portico  is  hardly  known  in 
Italian  architecture  ; and  in  the  rare  cases  which  exist  in  it 
of  insulated  columns,  they  are  for  the  most  part  so  meagre 
in  themselves,  and  so  thinly  set,  according  to  the  Vitru- 
vian  laws,  that  the  effect  produced  by  them  is  poor  and 
wretched  in  the  extreme.  This  applies  most  particular- 
ly to  Italy  itself:  in  some  other  countries,  and  especially 
in  this,  those  architects  who  have  been  of  the  Italian 
school  have  generally  preferred  the  proportions  and  ar- 
rangements which  they  found  in  the  Roman  examples  of 
antiquity,  to  those  laid  down  by  their  Italian  masters. 
Still,  Italian  church  architecture  boasts  the  cupola, — cer- 
tainly its  redeeming  feature  ; and  the  architects  of  Italy 
must  have  full  credit  for  the  use  they  have  made  of  it,  both 
internally  and  external ly.  Perhaps  no  two  edifices  display 
Plates  more>  and  in  a greater  degree,  both  the  merits  and  de- 
LXVIII  fects  °f  the  school  which  produced  them,  than  the  Far- 
LXIX.  nese  palace  and  the  basilica  of  St  Peter  in  Rome.  The 
and  LXX.principal  front  of  the  former  edifice  is  exquisite  in  its  pro- 
portions, but  frittered  in  its  details.  It  has  an  immense 
crowning  cornice,  whose  general  effect  is  surpassingly 
grand  ; but  the  mouldings  are  too  much  projected,  and  its 
vertical  parts  want  the  breadth  which  the  blocking  courses 
possess.  The  lowest  of  its  three  tiers  of  windows  is  cha- 
racterized by  the  most  charming  simplicity  and  good 
taste  in  almost  every  particular ; but  the  other  two  are 
crowded  with  sins  against  both  those  qualities,  in  the 
dressings  of  the  windows.  The  cortile  and  back  front, 
though  both  very  differently  arranged  from  the  front,  and 
from  each  other,  are  not  less  filled  with  contrarieties  ; and 
so  of  the  structure  throughout.  The  front  of  St  Peter’s 
is  not  more  distinguished  by  its  magnitude  than  by  its 
littleness  and  deformity.  It  contains  the  materials  of  a 
noble  octaprostyle,  and  consists  of  an  attached  tetrastyle. 
It  is  divided  into  three  unequal  stories,  within  the  height 
of  the  columns,  whose  entablature  is  surmounted  by  a 
windowed  attic.  In  length  it  is  frittered  into  a multitude 
of  compartments,  between  which  not  the  slightest  har- 
mony is  maintained ; while  tawdriness  and  poverty  are 
the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  its  detail.  A total 
absence  of  every  thing  which  produces  grandeur  and 
beauty  in  architecture,  marks,  indeed,  the  whole  of  the 
exterior  of  the  edifice,  except  the  glorious  cupola,  than 
which  architecture  never  produced  a more  noble  and 
magnificent  object.  Internally,  the  structure  is  open  to 
similar  praise  and  similar  dispraise.  Gorgeousness  in 
matter  and  meanness  in  manner  characterize  the  interior 
of  St  Peter’s,  except  the  sublime  concave  which  is  formed 
by  its  redeeming  feature  without. 

The  Cinquecento  architects  of  Italy  were  exceeding  man- 
nerists : but  besides  the  manner  of  the  school,  each  had 
his  own  peculiarities  ; so  that  there  exists  in  their  works 
what  may  almost  be  called  monotonous  variety  1 Brunel- 
leschi’s designs  are  distinguished  by  a degree  of  sim- 
plicity and  comparative  good  taste,  which  cause  regret 
that  he  had  not  referred  more  to  the  remains  of  antiquity 
in  Italy,  and  sought  out  those  of  Greece,  and  less  to  the 
dogmas  of  Vitruvius  ; for  then  his  works  would  have  been 
more  elegant  than  they  are,  and  the  school  he  founded 
would  have  done  him  much  more  honour  than  it  does. 


ECTURE.  23 

The  works  of  Bramante  possess  a more  classical  character  History, 
than  those  of  any  other  architect  of  the  school.  Bra-  '-^v^-> 
mante’s  design  for  St  Peter’s  was  preferred  by  Pope 
Julius  II.  to  a great  many  others  by  the  most  esteemed 
men  of  the  time.  He  it  was  who  suggested  the  cu- 
pola ; but,  unfortunately,  after  his  death  men  of  less  taste 
and  talent  were  allowed  to  alter  the  design,  and  the 
edifice  has  resulted  very  differently  from  what  it  would 
have  done  had  Bramante  been  adhered  to.  This  we 
judge  from  his  works  generally,  and  not  from  any  positive 
knowledge  of  the  design,  which  indeed  does  not  exist. 

The  elder  Sangallo  wras  far  inferior  to  his  contemporary 
and  rival  Bramante,  and  his  works  are  full  of  the  faults 
of  the  school.  Michel  Angelo  Buonaroti  was  a man  of 
great  genius,  but  of  very  bad  taste  in  architecture ; and 
to  him  may  be  attributed  many  of  the  bad  qualities  of  the 
Italian  style.  His  principal  works  are  the  buildings  of  the 
Capitol,  and  the  College  della  Sapienza  in  Rome,  and  the 
Laurentian  Library  at  Florence  ; and  these  are  all  dis- 
tinguished for  their  singular  want  of  architectural  beauty 
and  propriety  in  every  particular.  Michel  Angelo  was 
the  Dante  of  Italian  painting,  but  the  Berni  of  its  ar- 
chitecture. Raffaelle,  too,  had  a very  bad  style  in  ar- 
chitecture, and  so  indeed  had  almost  all  the  painters 
who  professed  to  be  architects  also.  They  generally  car- 
ried to  extremes  all  the  faults  of  the  school.  Sansovino 
and  Sanmichele  were  men  of  considerable  talent:  their 
works  display  more  originality  and  less  servility  than 
those  of  most  of  their  contemporaries.  Peruzzi  was  less 
employed  than  many  who  had  not  half  his  merit:  his 
productions  are  with  reason  considered  among  the  most 
classical  of  the  Italian  school.  Vignola  had  a more  correct 
taste  than  perhaps  any  other  Italian  architect  of  the  16th 
century:  his  works  are  indeed  distinguishable  by  their  su- 
periority in  harmony  of  composition  and  in  general  beauty 
of  detail.  Palladio  very  much  affected  the  study  of  the  an- 
tique, but  his  works  do  not  indicate  any  appreciation  of  its 
beauties.  He  appears  to  have  been  very  well  qualified 
by  nature  for  an  architect,  but  spoiled  by  education.  He 
did  not  look  at  the  remains  of  antiquity  with  his  own 
eyes,  but  with  those  of  Vitruvius  and  Alberti,  and  of 
course  was  much  influenced  by  the  manner  of  the  ad- 
mired works  of  his  predecessors.  Palladio  made  greater 
use  of  insulated  columns  than  the  Italian  architects  ge- 
nerally, but  his  ordinances  are  deficient  in  every  quality 
that  produces  beauty ; his  porticoes  may  be  V itruvian, 
but  they  certainly  are  not  classic ; and  all  his  works 
evince  that  he  studied  the  Colosseum,  the  Theatre  of 
Marcellus,  and  the  Triumphal  Arches,  more  than  the  co- 
lumns of  Jupiter  Stator  and  Mars  Ultor,  the  Temple  of 
Antoninus  and  Faustina,  the  Pantheon,  the  Portico  at 
Assisi,  and  the  other  classic  models,  which  he  drew,  but 
clearly  did  not  appreciate.  His  columns  upon  columns, 
his  attached  and  clustered  columns,  his  stilted  post-like 
columns,  his  broken  entablatures,  his  numberless  pilasters, 
straggling  and  unequal  intercolumniations,  inappropriate 
and  inelegant  ornaments,  circular  pediments  and  the  like, 
are  blemishes  too  numerous  and  too  great  to  be  passed 
over  because  of  occasional  elegance  of  proportion  and 
beauty  of  detail.  Scamozzi  did  not  improve  on  the  style 
of  his  master,  which,  however,  he  very  much  affected. 

Indeed  the  term  PaUadian  has  long  been  in  general  use 
throughout  the  civilized  world  for  beautiful  and  excellent 
in  architecture,  so  that  it  cannot  be  wondered  at  that 
Palladio’s  pupils  and  successors  should  imitate  him;  nor 
is  it  surprising  that  they  did  not  surpass,  or  even  equal 
him,  for  they  were  taught  to  look  to  his  works  as  the  no 
plus  ultra  of  excellence.  Giacomo  della  Porta,  a con- 
temporary of  Palladio,  followed  Michel  Angelo  in  several 
of  his  works,  and  imbibed  much  of  his  manner,  on  which 


21 


ARCHITECTU  R E. 


History. 


Influence 
of  the 
Italian 
school. 


lie  certainly  improved ; but  still  bis  own  is  far  from  being 
good.  Della  Porta  was  much  employed  in  Rome ; and  it 
fell  to  him,  in  conjunction  with  Domenico  Fontana,  to  put 
the  cupola  on  St  Peter’s.  Fontana’s  style  of  architecture 
is  not  particularly  distinguished  for  its  good  or  bad  quali- 
ties ; he  obtained  more  reputation  as  an  engineer  than 
as  an  architect,  having  been  engaged  in  removing  and 
setting  up  most  of  the  obelisks  which  give  so  much  inte- 
rest to  the  architectural  scenery  of  Rome.  The  Lunghi, 
father,  son,  and  grandson,  the  Rainaldi,  Maderno,  Bor- 
romini, Bernini,  Carlo  Fontana,  Fuga,  Vanvitelli,  and 
many  others  in  the  course  of  the  17th  and  18th  cen- 
turies, carried  the  peculiarities  of  the  Italian  school  to 
the  greatest  extremes.  Of  those  enumerated,  Bernini  was 
perhaps  the  least  offensive,  and  Borromini  the  most  ex- 
travagant ; but  throughout  that  period,  except  in  extreme 
cases,  individual  manner  is  less  distinguishable,  and  that 
of  the  school  more  strongly  marked. 

It  may  be  gathered  from  the  preceding  remarks,  that 
the  secular  architecture  of  the  Italian  school  is  generally 
preferable  to  the  ecclesiastical,  and  that  the  architects  of 
the  15th  and  16th  centuries  were  generally  superior  to 
those  who  followed  them.  In  Italy  the  school  has  not 
yet  ceased  to  exist,  nor  indeed  has  its  style  ceased  to  be 
studied.  Designs  are  still  made  by  the  students  of  the  va- 
rious academies  in  the  manner  of  the  Cinguecento , and  on 
the  models  with  which  the  country  abounds.  The  pre- 
cepts of  Vitruvius  are  yet  inculcated,  and  the  works  of  the 
men  whose  names  we  have  mentioned  are  looked  up  to  as 
master-works  of  architecture  in  the  country  which  con- 
tains the  Roman  Pantheon  and  the  Greek  Neptunium, 
besides  the  power  of  referring  to  the  more  exquisite  works 
of  Greece  herself. 

In  the  15th  century  such  was  the  reverence  of  men  for 
the  revived  works  of  ancient  literature  and  science,  that 
the  profession  of  the  Italians,  that  they  had  restored  ancient 
classical  architecture  on  the  precepts  of  an  architect  of 
the  Augustan  age,  was  sufficient  to  open  the  way  for  them 
all  over  civilized  Europe.  In  the  course  of  that  and  the 
following  century  Italian  architecture  was  adopted  and 
Italian  architects  employed  in  France,  Spain,  Germany, 
Great  Britain,  and  their  respective  dependencies ; and 
now,  in  the  19th  century,  Vitruvius  and  Palladio  are  as 
predominant  on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  as  on  those  of 
the  Mediterranean  Sea;  though  in  this  country  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  Continent  their  influence  is  consider- 
ably diminished  since  the  time  of  Inigo  Jones  and  Claude 
Perrault.  It  has  been  already  remarked,  too,  that  the 
Cinguecento  was  later  in  gaining  a footing  here  than  on  the 
Continent,  in  consequence  of  the  existence  of  a beautiful 
national  style  of  architecture,  which  our  ancestors  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  induced  to  resign  to  the  barbarian 
innovators  of  the  South,  as  readily  as  the  interjacent  na- 
tions were  to  give  up  theirs  ; for  which  indeed  the  reason 
exists  in  the  greater  attractions  of  ours,  and  the  conse- 
quent greater  difficulty  of  inducing  the  nation  to  part 
with  it.  The  French,  though  they  received  the  Vitruvian 
architecture  from  the  Italians,  were  patriotic  enough,  as 
soon  as  they  had  acquired  its  principles,  to  confine  the 
practice  of  it  almost  entirely  to  native  architects,  in  whose 
hands  it  assumed  a different  character  from  that  which  it 
possessed  in  Italy,  and  became  what  may  be  called  the 
French  style  of  Cinguecento.  Its  ecclesiastical  structures 
are  less  faulty  than  are  those  of  the  corresponding  period 
in  Italy,  but  its  secular  edifices  are  as  far  inferior  to  those 
of  that  country.  The  grand  palatial  style,  which  is  ex- 
emplified in  the  Farnese  palace  in  Rome,  never  found  its 
way  into  France ; but  instead,  there  arose  that  monstrous 
and  peculiarly  French  manner,  of  which  the  well-known 
palaces  of  the  Tuilleries  and  Luxembourg  are  egregious 


examples.  In  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  the  French  appear  to  History, 
have  reverted  to  the  Italian  manner  in  a certain  degree, 
for  the  palace  of  Versailles  includes  almost  all  the  extra- 
vagancies of  that  school  in  its  worst  period,  and  contains 
moreover  architectural  deformities  which  Italy  never 
equalled  till  it  imitated  them.  They  consist  in  the  style 
of  enrichment  which  is  distinguished  by  the  name  of  that 
monarch  in  whose  reign  it  had  its  origin,  and  of  whose  gross 
taste  and  vulgar  mind  it  is  an  apt  emblem.  The  same  pe- 
riod produced  one  of  the  most  classical  architects  of  the 
French  school — its  Palladio  or  Inigo  Jones,  Perrault,  whose 
design  for  the  buildings  of  the  Louvre  was  preferred  to  that 
of  Bernini,  though  indeed  the  preference  was  no  compli- 
ment to  the  one  nor  discredit  to  the  other,  considering  to 
whom  the  decision  was  of  necessity  referred.  The  Hotel 
des  Invalides  is  of  the  same  age : it  exhibits  the  graces  of 
the  Italian  cupola,  surmounting  a composition  which  in- 
cludes more  than  all  the  faults  of  St  Peter’s  in  Rome.  The 
church  of  Saint.e  Genevieve,  or  the  Pantheon,  a work 
of  the  following  reign,  was  intended  to  be  in  the  ancient 
Roman  style,  and  of  Roman  magnificence  ; but  it  is  rather 
papally  than  imperially  so.  Ancient  Rome  was  regarded 
in  the  columnar  ordinance,  but  modern  Rome  in  the  ar- 
chitectural composition.  In  it  the  ecclesiastical  style  of 
the  Cinguecento  is  commingled  with  the  simple  beauties  of 
Roman  architecture,  almost  indeed  to  the  destruction  of 
the  latter : to  this  structure  also  there  is  a handsome  cu- 
pola. Of  late  years  the  works  of  the  ancients  have  been 
studied  by  the  architects  of  France,  greatly  to  the  ameli- 
oration of  their  style  ; as  yet,  however,  they  are  but  im- 
perfectly acquainted  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  Greek, 
and  many  of  them  still  appear  to  retain  their  devotion 
to  Vitruvius  and  the  15th  century.  Spain  servilely  re- 
ceived the  Italo-Vitruvian  architecture,  and  to  the  present 
day  knows  no  other.  Less  patriotic  than  the  French,  the 
Spaniards  have  for  their  greatest  works  employed  the  ar- 
chitects of  France  and  Italy ; so  that  of  course  the  coun- 
try can  boast  of  no  peculiarity  in  the  style  of  its  archi- 
tecture redounding  to  its  own  credit.  The  palace  of  the 
Escurial  being  by  a French  architect,  and  abounding  in 
the  deformities  of  the  French  and  Italian  schools,  cannot 
be  cited  in  favour  of  Spain.  The  Italian  Revival  was  the 
means  of  extinguishing  the  Pointed  style  of  architecture 
in  Germany,  and  certainly  without  affording  it  an  equiva- 
lent. Italian  architects  were  employed  in  Germany,  and 
Germans  acquired  their  manner;  but  they  did  not  im- 
prove it,  nor  did  they  make  it  productive  of  so  many  good 
effects  as  the  Italians  themselves  did.  The  change  in  re- 
ligion which  supervened  the  change  in  architecture  in  so 
large  a part  of  Germany,  may  have  tended  to  prevent  the 
latter  from  acquiring  that  degree  of  exuberance  there 
which  it  did  in  Italy ; but  even  in  Catholic  Germany  the 
splendid  Pointed  cathedrals  have  never  given  way  to  mo- 
difications of  the  pseudo-classic  St  Peter’s.  In  the  use  of 
Cinguecento  architecture  for  secular  structures,  it  may  be 
truly  said  that  the  Germans  have  not  excelled  the  Ita- 
lians ; nor,  on  the  other  hand,  have  they  equalled  them 
in  the  absurdities  and  extravagancies  which  are  so  fre- 
quently observable  in  the  works  of  some  of  the  latter. 

The  Germans  also  have  lately  turned  their  attention  to 
the  works  of  the  ancients,  and  the  fruit  of  it  is  already  , 
evident  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  most  particu- 
larly in  Prussia : still,  however,  they  appear  to  have  yet 
to  learn  the  right  use  of  the  Greek  models,  and  a proper 
sense  of  the  exquisite  perfection  of  their  detail ; as  well 
as  to  emancipate  themselves  from  many  of  the  trammels 
of  the  Vitruvian  school.  The  northern  continental  na- 
tions have  been  dependent  on  Germany,  France,  or  Italy 
for  their  architecture,  and  can  produce  nothing  that  gives 
them  a claim  to  our  consideration  in  such  a review  as  the 


I 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  present.  St  Petersburg  is  exclusively  the  work  of  ar- 
v-*"'v~x~ychitects  of  the  nations  just  enumerated,  and  presents  a 
mass  of  the  merest  common-places  of  Italian  architecture, 
in  structures  calculated  by  their  extent,  like  Versailles,  the 
Escurial  and  St  Peter’s,  to  impose  on  the  vulgar  eye. 

We  have  already  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  refer 
incidentally  to  the  introduction  of  Cinquecento  architec- 
ture into  Britain ; and  in  noticing  it  more  particularly, 
and  tracing  its  course,  we  are  saved  the  trouble  of  keep- 
ing up  a distinction  between  the  different  parts  of  our 
triple  nation,  because,  at  the  time  it  actually  crossed  the 
channel,  the  amalgamation  of  the  kingdoms  had  taken 
place  by  the  union  of  their  crowns  on  the  head  of  the 
Scotish  sovereign. 

English  ar-  When  the  Pointed  style  received  its  deathblow  in  Eng- 
chitecture.  land,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  it  did  not  immediately 
cease  to  exist ; nor  was  it  immediately  succeeded  by  the 
Italian  when  it  became  extinct.  It  was  gradually  de- 
clining through  all  the  16th  century,  during  the  latter 
part  of  which  period,  what  has  been  called  the  Elizabethan 
style  became  somewhat  permanent.  It  consists  of  a singu- 
lar admixture  of  the  Italian  orders,  with  many  peculiari- 
ties of  the  Pointed  style,  and  in  many  examples  the  latter 
appears  predominant.  With  such  difficulty,  indeed,  did 
that  fascinating  manner  give  up  its  hold  on  the  minds  of 
men  in  this  country,  that  the  cinquecentists  appear  to  have 
relinquished  the  hope  of  effecting  its  destruction, — unfor- 
tunately, however,  not  until  the  injury  was  done ; and  for 
some  time  we  were  left  without  architecture  of  any  kind, 
unless  that  may  be  called  by  the  name  which  marks  the 
edifices  of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  and  of  which  the  oldest 
parts  of  St  James’s  palace  are  a specimen. 

The  destruction  of  the  Pointed  style  has  been  referred 
by  some  to  the  change  in  religion  which  took  place  under 
the  Tudor  line  of  English  monarchs ; but  such  was  cer- 
tainly not  the  case.  It  was  the  “ Reformation”  of  architec- 
ture in  Italy,  and  not  that  of  religion  in  Great  Britain,  that 
affected  it ; and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  change 
would  not  have  taken  place  sooner  in  this  country,  if  its 
connection  with  Italy  had  not  been  so  materially  affected 
by  the  moral  change  here,  and  so  delayed  that  of  architec- 
ture; for  it  was  Germany  and  France  that  supplied  us  with 
architectural  reformers  during  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII. 
and  his  children,  and  not  Italy,  whose  professors  might 
possibly  have  obtained  more  credit  than  their  disciples  did. 

So  dilatory  were  we,  indeed,  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
Italian  style,  that  the  first  professor  of  it  who  was  actual- 
ly employed  on  edifices  in  this  country  came  hither  from 
Denmark  ! It  is  true,  he  was  an  Englishman ; but  so  little 
hope  did  he  appear  to  have  of  success  at  home,  that  he 
accepted  an  invitation  from  the  king  of  that  country,  when 
he  was  at  Venice,  whither  he  had  gone  to  study  painting  ; 
but  becoming  enamoured  of  architecture,  as  he  saw  it  in 
the  works  of  Palladio,  he  had  made  that  his  study  instead, 
and  had  already  acquired  considerable  reputation  in  that 
- city,  when  Christian  IV.  of  Denmark  invited  him  to  his 
court  to  occupy  the  post  of  his  first  architect.  A train  of 
circumstances,  to  which  we  need  not  here  advert,  brought 
him  to  England  a few  years  after  James  I.  came  to  the  Eng- 
lish crown,  and  he  was  appointed  architect  at  first  to  the 
queen,  and  subsequently  to  Henry  prince  of  Wales.  But 
he  does  not  appear  in  consequence  to  have  then  obtained 
employment;  for  after  the  death  of  the  prince,  he  went 
again  to  Italy,  where  he  remained  till  the  office  of  survey- 
or general,  which  had  been  promised  him  in  reversion,  fell 
vacant.  This  was  the  celebrated  Inigo  Jones,  who  has 
been  called  the  English  Palladio  ; and  indeed  he  succeed- 
ed so  well  in  acquiring  the  peculiar  manner  of  that  archi- 
tect, that  he  richly  deserves  whatever  credit  the  appella- 
tion conveys,  it  is  unfortunate,  however,  for  his  own  re- 


25 

putation,  that  he  had  not  looked  beyond  Palladio  and  their  History, 
common  preceptor  Vitruvius,  to  the  models  the  latter  pre-v-‘*“v''v-// 
tends  to  describe ; in  which  case  he  might  have  been  the 
means  of  restoring,  or  at  least  of  introducing,  to  his  own 
country,  the  truly  classical  architecture  of  the  ancients. 

But  instead  of  that  he  brought  nothing  home  but  Italian 
rules  and  Italian  prejudices.  Jones  commenced  the  truly 
Gothic  custom  of  thrusting  Cinquecento  fittings  into  our 
Pointed  cathedrals,  by  putting  up  an  Italian  screen  in  that 
of  Winchester ; and  he  barbarized  the  ancient  cathedral 
of  St  Paul  in  London,  by  repairing  it  according  to  his 
notions  of  Pointed  architecture,  for  it  was  in  that  style, 
and  affixed  to  it  an  Italian  front.  Fortunately  the  great 
fire  supervened,  and  made  room  for  the  present  magnifi- 
cent structure,  by  clearing  away  that  early  specimen  of 
pseudo-classic  taste.  Of  the  Palladian  style,  however, 
it  must  be  confessed  Jones  was  a complete  master.  He 
designed  a royal  palace  which  was  to  have  been  built  at 
Whitehall,  in  a manner  as  far  superior  to  those  of  Versailles 
and  the  Escurial,  as  the  works  of  Palladio  are  to  those  of 
Borromini.  The  only  part  of  it  ever  executed  is  the 
structure  called  the  Banqueting-House  in  London,  whose 
exterior  is  an  epitome  of  many  of  the  faults,  and  most  of 
the  beauties,  of  the  Palladian  school.  It  rises  boldly  from 
the  ground  with  a broad,  simple,  and  nearly  continuous 
basement  or  stereobate,  and  the  various  compartments  of 
its  principal  front  are  beautifully  proportioned ; but  the 
circular  pediments  to  the  windows,  the  attached  unfluted 
columns,  with  broken  entablatures  and  stylobates,  the  attic 
and  balustrade,  though  they  be  the  materials  of  Palla- 
dian, it  may  be  confidently  denied  that  they  are  consist- 
ent with  classical  architecture.  Another  well-known  work 
of  this  architect  is  the  Italo-Vitruvian  Tuscan  church  of 
St  Paul,  Covent-Garden,  whose  eastern  portico  is  well- 
proportioned  in  general,  but  grossly  deformed  in  detail. 

Architecture  was  in  abeyance  in  this  country,  again, 
from  the  troublous  times  of  Charles  I.  till  the  restoration 
of  the  monarchy  in  the  person  of  his  son,  whose  French 
taste  would  have  completely  Gallicized  the  architecture, 
as  well  as  the  manners  and  morals,  of  the  nation,  if  the 
resplendent  genius  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren  had  not  been 
present  to  avert  the  infliction,  or  rather  to  modify  it ; for 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  influence  of  the  French  man- 
ner had  an  effect  on  the  architecture  of  this  country  from 
that  period  down  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  In- 
deed Wren  himself  only  knew  the  style  he  practised  from 
books  and  the  structures  of  France,  except  the  few  that 
existed  of  Inigo  Jones  in  this  country ; and,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  visit  to  France,  the  peculiarities  of  the 
French  style  are  obvious  in  many  of  his  less  esteemed 
works.  Fortunately,  however,  he  was  proof  against  the 
grosser  peculiarities  of  the  Cinquecento,  whether  in  the 
books  of  the  Italians  or  in  the  edifices  of  the  French ; 
and  his  own  productions  evince  that  he  had  imbibed 
much  of  the  spirit  of  the  antique  monuments  of  Italy, 
which  he  could  have  known  only  from  engravings,  and 
those  very  imperfect  ones.  The  field  that  was  opened  to 
his  genius  by  the  great  fire  of  London  in  1666,  and  its  re- 
sult, are  equally  well  known.  It  is  true  that  the  general 
offuscation  of  taste  and  feeling  with  regard  to  the  Pointed 
style  extended  even  to  him.  Wren  was  guilty  of  many 
offences  in  that  respect,  besides  giving  authority  to  the 
opprobrious  term  Gothic ; and  in  no  case  more  so  than  in 
the  construction  of  the  towers  to  Westminster  Abbej, 
which  are  a lasting  proof  of  his  ignorance  of  its  most  ob- 
vious principles.  Nevertheless,  to  the  influence  of  our 
beautiful  native  style  on  his  mind,  architecture  is  indebt- 
ed for  some  of  its  most  charming  works.  If  Wren  had  not 
been  accustomed  to  contemplate  the  graceful  and  elegant 
pyramids  or  spires  of  his  native  country,  he  would  never 


26  ARCHITECTURE. 


History,  have  originated  the  tapering  steeple,  in  the  composition 

which  with  the  materials  of  Italian  architecture  he 
still  stands  as  unrivalled  as  he  was  original.  Witness  the 
steeples  of  Bow  Church  and  St  Bride’s  in  London,  the 
former  of  which  is  hardly  surpassed  in  grace  and  elegance 
by  the  Pointed  spires  themselves.  It  must  remain  a con- 
stant subject  of  regret  that  this  great  head  of  the  English 
school  of  Cinquecento  architecture  did  not  know  the  re- 
mains of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  from  personal  obser- 
vation. With  his  splendid  genius  and  fine  taste,  if  he  had 
not  been  imposed  on  by  the  specious  pretence  of  the  Italo- 
Vitruvian  school,  his  works  would  have  been  models 
for  imitation  and  study,  as  they  are  objects  of  admi- 
ration : as  it  was,  he  avoided  many  of  the  faults  of  that 
school,  and  improved  on  many  of  its  beauties.  Without 
knowing  the  Greek  style  at  all,  and  knowing  the  Roman 
only  through  imperfect  mediums ; without,  indeed,  ever 
having  seen  an  example  of  either;  whenever  he  has  varied 
from  the  Italian  practice,  it  has  been  towards  the  propor- 
tions and  peculiarities  of  the  Greek  ! The  great  west  front 
Plate  of  St  Paul’s,  though  it  is  said  to  be  imitated  from  that  of 
LXVIIT.  St  Peter’s  in  Rome,  or  rather  from  what  it  was  proposed 
to  be,  with  the  two  towers  to  form  its  wings,  is  a much 
finer,  a more  imposing,  and  more  classical  specimen  of  ar- 
chitecture than  its  prototype ; for  the  advantage  the  latter 
should  have  in  being  of  columns  in  one  height  is  lost  en- 
tirely in  their  poverty  and  the  miserable  arrangement  of 
the  whole  front;  whereas  that  of  St  Paul’s  is  in  two  noble 
pseudo-prostyle  and  recessed  porticoes,  with  the  columns 
fluted,  and  generally  conceived  and  executed  in  much 
better  taste  than  those  of  the  former.  The  entablatures, 
though  massive,  are  finely  proportioned,  and  sufficiently 
ornate  to  be  elegant;  they  are,  too,  quite  continuous,  and 
the  upper  one  is  surmounted  by  a noble  pediment,  whose 
pyramidal  form  gives  at  the  same  time  dignity  and  a finish- 
ed appearance  to  the  whole  front.  The  coupling  of  the 
columns,  however,  and  the  putting  of  one  columnar  ordi- 
nance over  another,  can  only  be  defended  by  the  practice 
of  the  Italian  school;  though,  in  the  present  case,  both  are 
rendered  less  offensive  by  the  judicious  management  of 
the  architect.  Nothing  shows  more  strikingly  the  supe- 
riority of  St  Paul’s  to  St  Peter’s,  as  an  architectural  com- 
position, than  a parallel  of  their  flanks.  The  great  mag- 
nitude of  the  latter  may  strike  the  vulgar  eye  with  admi- 
ration in  the  contrast ; but  the  rudest  taste  must  appre- 
ciate the  surpassing  merit  of  the  former  in  the  form  and 
arrangement  of  the  cupola,  and  the  noble  peristyle  with 
its  unbroken  entablature  and  stylobate,  out  of  which  it 
rises,  when  compared  with  the  sharper  form  and  depressed 
substructure  of  that  of  St  Peter’s.  The  superiority  of 
St  Paul’s  in  the  composition  of  the  main  body  of  the  edi- 
fice is  not  less  in  degree,  though  perhaps  less  obvious, 
than  in  the  superstructure.  In  the  one  it  is  broken  and 
frittered,  and  in  the  other  almost  perfectly  continuous,  in 
broad,  bold,  and  effective  masses. 

The  history  of  the  works  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren  is 
the  history  of  the  architecture  of  the  period  in  this  coun- 
try ; and  as  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  was  not  so  suc- 
cessful in  the  composition  of  the  architecture  of  secular 
structures  as  of  ecclesiastical,  it  will  follow  that  our  se- 
cular edifices  of  that  time  are  of  inferior  merit.  If  it 
were  not  indeed  an  historical  fact,  it  would  hardly  be 
credited,  that  Chelsea  College,  the  old  College  of  Physi- 
cians in  London,  and  the  halls  of  some  of  the  city  com- 
panies, are  by  the  architect  of  Bow  Church  and  St  Paul’s. 

The  style  introduced  by  Sir  John  Vanbrugh,  who  may 
be  said  to  have  succeeded  Sir  Christopher  Wren  in  the 
direction  of  architecture  in  England,  was  distinguished  by 
massiveness  unsuited  to  the  style  in  which  he  built,  which 
was  of  course  Italian.  It  was,  however,  free  from  the  va- 


garies and  extravagancies  which  characterize  that  style  History, 
generally  in  other  countries  at  the  same  period,  but  was 
certainly  more  suited  to  the  soberer  character  of  ecclesi- 
astical than  of  secular  structures,  whereas  his  principal 
works  were  noblemen’s  mansions.  Vanbrugh’s  faults  were 
generally  those  ot  Michel  Angelo:  he  was  a painter’s  ar- 
chitect, and  did  not  understand  beauty  of  proportion  and 
detail  so  well  as  the  pictorial  arrangement  of  lights  and 
shadows;  to  produce  which  in  the  Cinquecento  it  is  almost 
necessary  to  part  with  all  the  higher  beauties  of  architec- 
ture. Hawksmoor  added  to  the  style  of  his  master  that 
noble  ornament  in  which  Italian  works  are  so  very  deficient 
— a prostyle  portico.  His  compositions  are  marked  by 
severe  simplicity,  and  only  want  to  be  absolved  from  a few 
faults  and  enriched  with  a few  elegancies  to  be  among  the 
best  of  modern  times.  Not  the  least  distinguished  archi- 
tect of  the  same  age  (the  first  half  of  the  18th  century) 
was  the  Earl  of  Burlington,  who  was  a passionate  admirer 
of  the  style  of  Palladio  and  Inigo  Jones.  Many  of  the 
edifices  erected  by  Kent  are  believed  to  be  from  the  de- 
signs of  that  amiable  nobleman,  who,  with  considerable 
talent,  was,  however,  a somewhat  bigoted  devotee  to 
Vitruvius  and  the  Cinquecento  generally,  as  well  as  to  Pal- 
ladio in  particular ; for  he  has  frequently  used  columns 
representing  half-barked  trees,  in  conformity  with  the  silly 
tales  of  Vitruvius,  and  the  sillier  whims  of  his  disciples. 

The  portal  of  his  own  house  in  Piccadilly,  and  that  of  the 
King’s  Mews,  are  special  examples  of  this  bad  taste,  and 
of  other  faults  of  the  school  besides.  Lord  Burlington 
built  for  himself  at  Chiswick  a villa  on  the  model  of  the 
Villa  Capra,  or  Rotonda,  near  Vicenza — a structure  which 
has  been  called  the  masterpiece  of  Palladio.  In  form  and 
proportion  it  is  certainly  elegant,  but  its  details  strongly 
exhibit  the  poverty  of  Italian  columnar  architecture,  when 
unaided  by  the  frittering  which  is  its  bane,  and  almost  its 
sole  dependence  for  effect.  Gibbs  was  a contemporary 
of  the  same  period.  He  too,  like  Hawksmoor,  had  imbibed 
a taste  for  the  classic  prostyle  portico,  which  he  evinced 
in  St  Martin’s  church  in  London ; but  that  he  also  was  in 
the  trammels  of  the  Italian  school  is  no  less  evident,  in 
the  same  structure,  to  a considerable  extent,  and  still 
more  so  in  the  church  of  St  Mary  in  the  Strand,  which  is 
a bad  specimen  of  architecture,  and  a favourable  one  of 
its  style.  During  the  following  half-century  (the  latter 
half  of  the  18th)  Sir  William  Chambers  and  Sir  Robert 
Taylor  were  the  most  distinguished  architects  of  this 
country.  They  were  both  men  of  talent  and  genius,  who 
had  availed  themselves  of  the  remains  of  Roman  antiquity 
to  good  purpose ; for  as  yet  those  of  Greece  were  either 
unknown  or  unappreciated ; and  the  former  of  them  has 
left  us,  in  the  Strand  front  of  Somerset  House  in  London, 
perhaps  the  best  specimen  of  its  style  in  existence.  Other 
parts  of  the  same  edifice,  however,  are  far  from  deserving 
the  same  degree  of  praise : indeed,  as  an  architectural 
composition,  the  river  front  is  altogether  inferior  in  merit 
to  the  other,  though  of  much  greater  pretence.  The  inner 
fronts  to  the  great  quadrangle,  though  exhibiting  good 
parts,  are,  as  a whole,  not  above  mediocrity.  An  air  of 
littleness  pervades  them ; and  the  general  effect  of  the 
fronts  themselves  is  made  still  worse  by  the  little  clock 
towers  and  cupolas  by  which  they  are  surmounted ; and 
to  this  maybe  added  the  infinity  of  ill-arranged  chimneys, 
which  impart  an  air  of  meanness  and  confusion  that  no- 
thing can  excuse.  While  Sir  William  Chambers  and  a 
few  others  were  applying  the  best  qualities  of  Italian  ar- 
chitecture, indeed  improving  its  general  character,  and,  it 
may  be  said,  making  an  English  style  of  it,  there  were 
many  structures  raised  in  various  parts  of  the  country  in 
a manner  hardly  superior  to  that  of  the  time  of  James  I ; 
structures  in  which  all  the  meanness  ana  poverty  of  the 


ARCHITECTURE. 


History.  Cinquecento  are  put  forth,  without  any  of  its  elegance  of 
proportion,  or  that  degree  of  effectiveness  which  men  of 
talent  contrived  to  give  it.  During  the  same  period,  too, 
the  seeds  of  a revolution  were  sown,  which  has  almost 
succeeded  in  ejecting  the  Italian  style  and  its  derivative 
from  this  country,  without  perhaps  having  as  yet  fur- 
nished a complete  equivalent. 

In  the  year  1748  James  Stuart  and  Nicholas  Revett, 
two  painters  pursuing  their  studies  in  Rome,  having 
moreover  paid  some  attention  to  architecture,  issued 
“ Proposals  for  publishing  an  accurate  description  of  the 
Antiquities  of  Athens,  &c.”  These  proposals  met  with 
general  approbation,  and  in  consequence  they  determin- 
ed on  prosecuting  their  plan  ; but  various  hinderances 
prevented  their  arrival  in  Athens  till  March  1751,  when 
they  commenced  measuring  and  delineating  the  architec- 
tural monuments  of  that  city  and  its  environs.  In  this 
work  Messrs  Stuart  and  Revett  were  unremittingly  em- 
ployed (as  far  as  their  own  exertions  went,  for  they 
were  frequently  interrupted  by  the  Turks)  for  several 
years,  so  that  they  did  not  reach  England  with  the  re- 
sult of  their  labours  until  1755 ; and,  by  a series  of  al- 
most unaccountable  delays,  the  first  volume  of  their  work 
did  not  appear  until  the  year  1762.  Sixteen  years  more 
expired  before  the  second  issued  from  the  press;  and 
the  third  was  not  published  until  1794,  being  nearly 
fifty  years  from  the  time  the  work  was  first  announced ! 
Avarice  and  envy  had  induced  a Frenchman  of  the  name 
of  Le  Roy,  who  was  at  Rome  when  our  countrymen  is- 
sued their  proposals,  to  forestall  them  with  the  public, 
and  rob  them  of  the  profit  and  reputation  they  were  so 
hardly  labouring  to  earn.  This  man  went  to  Athens, 
and  in  a very  short  time  collected  some  loose  mate- 
rials, with  which  he  published  at  Paris,  in  1758,  a work 
which  he  called  Les  Ruines  des  plus  beaux  Monumens 
de  la  Grece,  Sfc.,  in  which  he  makes  not  the  slightest 
mention  of  Stuart  and  Revett,  nor  of  their  labours  or  in- 
tentions, with  all  of  which  he  was  well  acquainted.  This 
work  is  moreover  notoriously  and  grossly  incorrect ; so 
incorrect  indeed,  as  to  make  it  difficult  of  belief  that  its 
author  ever  saw  the  objects  of  which  he  professes  to  give 
the  representations.  Such  as  it  is,  however,  it  was  from 
M.  le  Roy’s  work  that  the  public  had  to  judge  of  the 
merits  and  beauties  of  Greek  architecture ; for  we  have 
said  that  the  first  volume  Of  Stuart  and  Revett’s  did  not 
appear  for  several  years  after  it,  and  that  does  not  con- 
tain any  pure  specimen  of  the  national  or  Doric  style  : 
the  second,  which  does,  .was  not  published  for  twenty 
years  after  Le  Roy’s.  Considering,  therefore,  the  source 
from  which  the  public  had  to  derive  information  on  the 
subject,  it  can  hardly  be  wondered  at  that  Greek  ar- 
chitecture was  vituperated  on  all  sides ; and  by  none 
with  greater  acrimony  than  by  Sir  William  Chambers, 
whose  apology  must  be,  ignorance  and  the  prejudices  of 
education.  He  really  did  not  know  the  style  lie  carped 
at ; and  his  education  in  the  Italo-Vitruvian  school  had 
unfitted  him  for  appreciating  its  grand,  chaste,  and  simple 
beauties,  even  if  he  had  known  it.  Notwithstanding  the 
misrepresentations  of  Le  Roy,  the  vituperations  of  Cham- 
bers, the  established  reputation  of  Italian  architecture, 
and  the  trammels  which  Vitruvius  and  his  disciples  had 
fixed  on  the  public  mind,  when  Stuart  and  Revett’s  work 
actually  appeared,  the  Greek  style  gradually  advanced  in 
esteem,  by  dint  of  superior  merit  alone — for  it  has  had  no 
factitious  aids ; and  since  that  period  Greece  and  all  her 
colonies  which  possess  remains  of  her  unrivalled  archi- 
tecture have  been  explored,  and  we  now  possess  correct 
delineations  of  almost  every  Greek  structure  which  has 
survived,  though  in  ruins,  the  wreck  of  time  and  the  de- 
solation of  barbarism.  To  our  country  and  nation,  then, 


is  due  the  honour  of  opening  the  temple  of  Greek  architec-  Historv. 
tural  science, — of  drawing  away  the  veil  of  ignorance  which 
obscured  the  beauties  it  contains, — and  of  snatching  from 
perdition,  and  consequent  oblivion,  the  noble  relics  of  an- 
cient architecture  which  bear  the  impress  of  the  Grecian 

mind.  Not  only  indeed  were  we  the  first  to  open  the 

mine,  but  by  us  it  has  been  principally  worked  ; for  among 
the  numerous  publications  which  now  exist  on  the  Hel- 
lenic remains,  by  far  the  greatest  number,  and  indisput- 
ably the  most  correct,  are  by  our  countrymen,  and  were 
brought  out  in  this  country.  It  required,  however,  a 
generation  for  the  effects  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  in 
some,  and  imperfect  knowledge  in  others,  to  wear  away, 
before  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  Greek  style  could  be 
obvious  in  our  structures.  The  works  of  the  Adamses, 
who  were  contemporaries  of  and  immediate  successors  to 
Sir  William  Chambers,  evince  a taste  for  the  beauties  of 
Greek  architecture,  but  a very  imperfect  knowledge  in- 
deed of  the  means  of  reproducing  them.  The  architects 
who  have  had  the  direction  of  our  principal  works  during 
the  first  quarter  of  this  century  had  the  disadvantage  of 
being  pupils  of  those  who  were  themselves,  as  we  have 
shown,  incompetent  to  appreciate  the  Greek  style ; and 
at  a time  too  when  the  state  of  Europe  shut  up  all  access 
to  the  remains  of  Greece  and  Rome ; so  that  no  great 
improvement  could  perhaps  be  expected  from  them. 

When  they  shall  have  passed  away,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
we  shall  find  a new  class,  some  of  whom,  indeed,  are  al- 
ready before  the  world,  who,  having  received  their  edu- 
cation since  peace  has  opened  the  Continent,  are  prepared 
by  the  actual  contemplation  and  study  of  the  works  of 
Egypt,  Greece,  Rome,  and  Italy,  in  all  their  varieties,  to 
form  new  and  pleasing  combinations  of  their  beauties, 
adapted  to  our  wants, — to  produce  what  may  equal,  if  not 
surpass  them  all  The  structures  of  Egypt  may  show 
how  to  arrange  large  masses  harmoniously  and  effectively ; 
those  of  Greece  and  Rome  how  to  impart  grace  and  dig- 
nity; and  the  structures  of  Italy  how  the  materials  of  an- 
cient architecture  maybe  moulded  to  modern  uses,  while 
at  the  same  time  they  give  practical  warning  of  what  may 
result  from  the  abuse  of  the  most  obvious  principles  of  the 
science. 

The  difference  between  the  representations  of  the 
Athenian  antiquities  by  Stuart  and  his  colleague,  and  the 
misrepresentations  of  them  by  Le  Roy,  appear  to  have 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  world  to  those  of  ancient  Rome, 
to  see  if  they  too  had  not  been  dealt  with  unjustly ; for 
of  late  years  much  more  correct  delineations  of  them  have 
appeared  than  those  of  Palladio  and  Desgodetz, — delinea- 
tions of  them  as  they  exist,  exhibiting  the  spirit  of  the 
originals,  and  not  warped  to  the  Vitruvian  precepts,  and 
thereby  stripped  of  their  best  quality,  truth.  The  exca- 
vation of  the  ancient  cities  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii 
has  opened  to  us  much  interesting  matter,  and  some  that 
is  instructive  : their  ruins  too  have  the  advantage  of  being 
correctly  delineated  ; so  that  we  are  at  this  time  in  pos- 
session of  more  knowledge  of  the  architecture  of  the  an- 
cients, acquired  in  a few  years  by  the  actual  examination 
of  its  relics,  than  our  predecessors  of  the  last  generation 
were,  after  talking,  and  writing,  and  reading  Vitruvius 
about  it,  for  nearly  four  centuries. 

It  is  an  argument  in  proof  of  the  classical  beauty  of  the 
Pointed  style,  that  when  the  eyes  of  men  were  opened  to 
the  perfections  of  Greek  architecture,  they  began  to  dis- 
cover its  merits  also.  Pointed  architecture,  under  the  op- 
probrious name  Gothic,  had  long  been  a subject  of  discus- 
sion among  antiquaries ; that  is,  essays  were  written  by 
them  to  prove  how  the  Pointed  arch  originated,  but  none 
appreciated  its  beauties.  Our  Pointed  cathedrals  and 
churches  were,  after  the  example  of  Inigo  Jones,  ruth- 


28  ARCHIT 

History,  lessly  barbarized  in  repairing  and  fitting  up.  If  an  archi- 
tect  were  employed  to  do  any  tiling  in  or  to  one  of  them, 
he  appears  to  have  thought  it  incumbent  on  him  to  con- 
vert it  to  the  doctrines  of  his  own  faith — to  Italicize  it. 
Deans  and  chapters  for  the  most  part  intrusted  their 
commissions  to  country  masons  and  plasterers,  who  also 
operated  according  to  the  laws  of  the  “ five  orders.” 
About  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  one  Batty  Lang- 
ley endeavoured  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  world  to 
Pointed  architecture,  by  reducing  it  to  rules,  and  dividing 
it  into  orders.  Fortunately  he  was  only  laughed  at,  and 
both  he  and  the  book  he  published  on  the  subject  were 
soon  forgotten.  One  of  the  first  men  in  rank  and  influ- 
ence of  his  time,  in  matters  of  taste  particularly,  Horace 
Walpole,  ’patronized  Pointed  architecture,  hut  ineffec- 
tually. He  had  himself  neither  taste  nor  feeling  to  ap- 
preciate its  beauties,  as  his  Strawberry  Hill  clearly  evinces; 
so  that  his  patronage  of  it  must  have  been  the  effect  of 
mere  whim,  or  a wish  to  lead  a fashion.  Delineations 
were  indeed  put  forth  from  time  to  time,  but  generally 
so  rude  and  imperfect,  that,  like  M.  le  Roy  to  Greek 
architecture,  they  did  more  harm  than  good.  The  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries,  however,  at  length  took  up  the  sub- 
ject, engaged  Mr  John  Carter,  an  ardent  and  judicious  ad- 
mirer of  our  national  architecture,  and  commenced  the 
publication  of  a series  of  splendid  volumes,  containing  en- 
gravings of  its  best  specimens,  from  drawings  and  admea- 
surements by  him.  The  “ Antiquities  of  Athens”  had  al- 
ready done  much  to  dispossess  men  of  their  prejudices, 
by  showing  that  Greek  architecture,  though  neither  Vi- 
truvian  nor  Palladian,  was  nevertheless  beautiful ; and  the 
great  work  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  did  the  same  for 
Pointed  architecture.  Since  the  death  of  Mr  Carter,  our 
native  style  has  been  beautifully  illustrated,  in  a series  of 
valuable  works  by  Mr  Britton,  and  elucidated  in  detailed 
“ specimens,”  by  Mr  Pugin,  a French  gentleman  but  an 
English  artist,  and  by  a great  variety  of  other  useful  and 
excellent  publications;  so  that,  at  the  present  time,  the 
Pointed  style,  too,  is  studied  and  understood,  and  not  a 
few  of  our  architects  are  now  competent,  not  only  to  be 
intrusted  with  the  repairs  and  restorations  of  the  ancient 
structures,  but  also  to  originate  new  ones,  which  may 
rival  all  but  their  prototypes  in  beauty. 

We  have  now,  in  this  part  of  the  subject,  only  to  add  a 
few  remarks  on  the  improvement  which  has  taken  place  in 
domestic  architecture,  since  men  have  begun  to  consider 
their  own  comfort  and  happiness  of  as  much  importance 
to  them  as  the  splendour  of  their  religious  edifices.  The 
exhumated  city  of  Pompeii  lias  very  clearly  proved,  that 
notwithstanding  the  extent  and  general  beauty  of  the  pub- 
lic buildings  of  the  Romans,  the  houses  of  the  common- 
alty were  exceedingly  plain  and  confined,  while  those  of 
the  higher  classes,  though  internally  elegant,  were  exter- 
nally unpretending.  The  rooms  were  small  and  badly  ar- 
ranged, imperfectly  secluded  from  the  public  gaze,  and 
quite  exposed  to  the  inmates ; pervious  alike  to  the  sum- 
mer’s heat  and  winter’s  cold.  Indeed,  the  house  of  a Ro- 
man gentleman  presents  a very  convenient  model  for  a 
prison,  but  without  many  of  the  comforts  which  in  mo- 
dern times  are  thought  necessary  even  in  such  places.  Of 
this,  however,  we  shall  treat  more  in  detail  when  we  come 
to  consider  Roman  architecture  as  a style.  It  has  been 
stated  as  probable,  that  the  use  of  wooden  floors,  and  the 
consequent  power  of  making  additional  stories  without 
enormously  thick  walls,  arose  during  the  middle  ages. 
That  improvement,  together  with  the  use  of  glass  for  win- 
dows, gives  an  air  of  comfort  and  convenience  to  the  ear- 
liest domestic  structures  of  modern  times,  of  which  the 
ancients  could  have  had  no  idea ; but  the  latter  were  de- 
ficient in  elegance,  though  indeed  the  use  of  windows 


E C TU-RE. 

tended  to  the  introduction  of  external  architectural  deco-  History, 
ration.  With  learning  and  civilization  came  refinement  — — ** 
and  luxury,  and  men  began,  though  at  a great  distance,  to 
imitate  in  their  houses  what  they  found  of  beautiful  and 
splendid  in  the  churches  and  monasteries.  The  exclusion, 
by  glass  windows,  of  currents  of  cold  air,  which  carried 
the  smoke  off  to  the  funnel  in  the  roof  of  a hall  or  large 
room,  when  the  fire  was  exposed  in  the  middle  of  it,  led 
to  the  invention  and  use  of  chimneys,  which  should  convey 
it  away  without  occupying  the  room  at  all.  This  is  more 
particularly  applicable  to  the  colder  countries  north  of 
the  Alps,  and  it  is  in  them  that  domestic  building  is  best 
understood,  and  is  best  applied  to  produce  comfort  and 
convenience.  Not  that  the  Palazzi  of  Italy  are  not  gene- 
rally more  pretending  in  their  externa!  architecture  than 
the  town  mansions  of  this  country;  but  they  are  deficient 
in  those  internal  arrangements  which  tend  to  produce  the 
greatest  possible  advantages,  which,  indeed,  promote  the 
enjoyments  of  domestic  life. 

In  consequence  of  the  refinements  which  now  pervade 
the  manners,  habits,  and  customs  of  civilized  life,  and 
civilization  having  extended  itself  from  the  noble  and  the 
learned  through  almost  the  whole  social  system,  men  are 
no  longer  contented  to  admire  the  beauty  and  magnifi- 
cence of  public  edifices,  whether  ecclesiastical  or  civil,  and 
to  witness  the  splendour  and  elegance  of  the  palaces  and 
mansions  of  the  wealthy;  but  all  are  anxious  to  see  in 
their  own  habitations  that  degree  of  decoration  and  beauty 
which  they  find  so  productive  of  pleasure  and  pleasurable 
emotions.  Thus  architecture  is  no  longer  confined  to  the 
temples  of  the  divinity  and  the  palaces  of  the  great,  but 
its  beauties  are  sought  everywhere.  In  every  edifice 
whose  inhabitant  lias  been  fitted  by  education  and  habit 
to  appreciate  and  enjoy  the  charm  which  arises  from  sym- 
metry of  form,  beauty  of  proportion,  and  elegance  of  de- 
tail, the  aid  of  architecture  is  required. 

Of  Egyptian  Structures. 

The  architecture  of  ancient  Egypt  is  characterized  by 
the  boldness  and  magnitude  of  its  parts,  and  the  almost 
monotonous  uniformity  which  pervades  its  features.  The 
existing  monuments  of  Egyptian  architecture  consist  for 
the  most  part  of  temples  and  pyramids.  Obelisks  are  gene- 
rally found  in  connection  with  the  former,  so  that  perhaps 
they  can  only  be  considered  as  belonging  to  them,  and 
not  as  distinct  architectural  works,  or  the  sphinxes  and 
other  things  of  a similar  nature  must  be  considered  as  such 
also.  Neither  can  the  hypogea  or  excavations  be  correct- 
ly described  as  belonging  to  architecture,  though  they 
bear  many  of  its  features,  and  were  perhaps  the  antitypes 
of  regular  architectural  combinations. 

The  pyramids  are  almost  solid  masses  of  masonry,  whose 
bases  are  squares,  and  whose  inclined  sides  are  nearly 
equilateral  triangles : some  of  them  are  truncated,  and 
some  run  up  to  a point.  They  are  generally  much  injured 
on  the  surface  by  long  exposure,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
to  say  whether  any  of  them  were  considered  finished 
while  in  steps  or  receding  courses,  or  if  the  angles  were 
either  filled  up  or  worked  off,  to  make  smooth  surfaces  on 
the  exterior.  Some  of  them  not  only  were  made  plain  by 
working  off,  but  remain  so  still ; whilst  others  bear  no  in- 
dication of  ever  having  been  finished  in  that  manner.  In 
one  existing  example,  that  of  the  great  southern  pyramid 
of  Dashour,  the  angles  of  the  receding  courses  have  been 
wrought  oft’;  and  it  is  singular  that  the  blocks  of  stone  are 
not  laid  in  horizontal  courses,  but  at  an  angle  inclined  to 
the  base ; nor  are  its  sides  carried  up  to  the  top  in  one 
continued  plane,  but  at  about  two  thirds  from  the  base  they 
incline  towards  each  other  under  a more  obtuse  angle. 

It  has  been  imagined,  but  not  determined,  that  most  of 


ARCHITECTURE. 


29 


Egyptian  them  have  natural  hills,  either  of  earth  or  stone,  for  cores, 
Structures.gr  rather  that  hills  have  been  cut  to  the  shape,  and  built 
over  with  large  courses  of  stone  to  give  them  the  appear- 
ance of  being  solid  masonry.  If  this  be  the  case,  the 
chambers  and  the  passages  to  them,  which  have  been  dis- 
covered in  some  of  the  pyramids,  have  been  carefully 
built  around  to  have  the  appearance  of  being  left  in  the 
construction,  which  is  not  very  probable.  Another  sug- 
gestion, to  account  in  some  measure  for  the  immense 
quantity  of  matter  in  them,  is,  that  they  are  actually  cut 
in  living  rock  to  a considerable  height,  and  built  above. 
This  may  be  the  case  with  regard  to  those  which  are  of 
the  stone  the  place  affords ; but  some  of  them  are  of  foreign 
material,  externally  at  least,  and  of  consequence  cannot 
have  been  hewn  in  the  native  rock.  More  consistent  with 
the  genius  of  Egyptian  undertakings,  but  hardly  more  pro- 
bable is  it,  that  the  pyramids  include  or  cover  some  such 
constructions  as  the  labyrinth  beyond  Lake  Mceris,  spoken 
of  by  Herodotus,  according  to  the  suggestion  we  have 
made  in  another  place,  or  chambers  of  some  kind  which 
may  have  been  the  depositories  of  the  arcana  of  Egyptian 
learning  and  science.  Such  indeed  is  the  immense  extent 
of  some  of  these  extraordinary  monuments  of  human  in- 
dustry and  human  folly,  that  no  suggestion  with  regard 
to  them  can  be  considered  wild,  as  they  afford  full  scope 
for  the  imagination,  without  presenting  any  thing  to  sup- 
port or  refute  any  theory  that  may  be  applied  to  them. 

The  Egyptian  temples,  without  possessing  that  entire 
uniformity  of  plan  which  those  of  the  Greeks  do,  are  very 
similar  in  arrangement  and  manner.  The  larger  and 
more  perfect  structures  do  not  externally  present  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  columned,  a boundary  wall  or  peribolus 
girding  the  whole,  and  preventing  the  view  of  any  part  of 
the  interior,  except  perhaps  the  towering  magnificence  of 
some  inner  pylones  ; of  the  lofty  tops  of  an  extraordinary 
avenue  of  columns,  with  their  superimposed  terrace ; of 
the  tapering  obelisks  which  occupy,  at  times,  some  of  the 
courts  ; or  of  a dense  mass  of  structure,  which  is  the  body 
of  the  temple  itself,  inclosing  the  thickly  columned  halls. 
The  immense  magnitude  of  these  edifices  may  perhaps 
have  made  them  independent,  in  their  perfect  state,  of 
considerations  which  have  weight  in  architectural  compo- 
sition at  the  present  time,  and  on  which  indeed  its  har- 
mony depends.  The  various  portions  of  the  same  temple 
differ  in  size  and  proportion ; and  being  intermingled,  the 
cornices  of  the  lower  abut  indefinitely  against  the  walls  of 
the  higher  parts,  while  the  latter  are  not  at  all  in  accord- 
ance among  themselves. 

Pi.  LVI.  The  structure  we  produce  to  exemplify  Egyptian  archi- 
tecture, though  not,  according  to  Mr  Champollion,  one  of 
the  Pharaonic  monuments,  is  perfectly  characteristic  of 
the  style  and  arrangement  of  Egyptian  temples,  and  is  a 
more  regular  specimen  than  any  other  possessing  the  na- 
tional peculiarities.  It  is  known  as  the  temple  of  Apol- 
linopolis  Magna,  or  of  Edfou,  in  Upper  Egypt,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile,  between  Thebes  and  the  first  cataracts. 

The  plan  of  the  inclosure  behind  the  propylaea  is  a long 
parallelogram,  the  moles  or  propylaea  themselves  forming 
another  across  one  of  its  ends.  The  grand  entrance  to  the 
great  court  of  the  temple  is  by  a doorway  between  the 
moles,  to  which  there  may  have  been  folding  gates,  as  the 
notches  for  their  hinges  are  still  to  be  seen.  Small  cham- 
bers, right  and  left  of  the  entrance,  and  in  the  core  of  the 
propylaea,  were  probably  for  the  porters  or  guards  of  the 
temple : a staircase  remains  on  each  side,  which  leads  to 
other  chambers  at  different  heights.  To  furnish  these  with 
light  and  air,  loop-holes  have  been  cut  through  the  exter- 
nal walls,  which  disfigure  the  front  of  the  structure.  The 
court-yard,  cloister,  or  vestibule,  has  on  three  of  its  sides 
a colonnade,  against  the  wall  of  the  peribolus,  forming  a 


covered  gallery.  This,  and  the  gradual  ascent  by  corded  Egyptian 
steps  to  the  great  portico  or  pronaos,  will  be  better  under- Structures, 
stood  by  reference  to  the  plan  and  section.  The  pronaos, 
or  covered  portico,  consists  of  three  rows  of  six  columns  3 &'4' 
each,  parallel  and  equidistant,  except  in  the  middle,  where 
the  intercolumniation  is  greater,  because  of  the  passage 
through.  The  front  row  of  columns  is  closed  by  a sort  of 
breast-work  or  dado,  extending  to  nearly  half  their  height, 
in  which  moreover  they  are  half-imbedded ; and  in  the 
central  opening  a peculiar  doorway  is  formed,  consisting  of 
piers,  with  the  lintel  and  cornice  over  them  cut  through, 
as  exhibited  in  the  elevation  of  the  portico.  From  the  Fig.  2. 
pronaos  another  doorway  leads  to  an  atrium  or  inner  ves- 
tibule, consisting  of  three  rows  of  smaller  columns,  with 
four  in  each,  distributed  as  those  of  the  pronaos  are. 

Beyond  this  vestibule  there  are  sundry  close  rooms  and 
cells,  with  passages  and  staircases,  whose  intention  is  not 
obvious.  The  insulated  chamber  within  the  sixth  door 
was  most  probably  the  adytum  or  sanctuary,  the  holy  of 
holies,  which  was  honoured  by  the  presence  of  the  divi- 
nity: the  rest  is  inexplicable. 

In  many  cases  the  temples  are  without  the  peribolus 
and  propylaea,  the  edifice  consisting  of  no  more  than  the 
pronaos  and  the  parts  beyond  it ; and  in  others,  parti- 
cularly in  those  of  Thebes,  this  arrangement  is  doubled, 
and  there  are  two  pairs  of  the  colossal  moles,  the  second 
being  placed  where  the  pronaos  is  in  this,  and  another 
open  court  or  second  vestibule  intervening  them  and  the 
portico.  In  these  the  central  line  across  the  courts  is 
formed  by  a covered  avenue  of  columns,  of  much  larger 
size  than  ordinary ; and  the  galleries  around  are  of  double 
rows  of  columns  instead  of  one  row  with  the  walls,  as  in 
this  case.  The  obelisks  marked  in  the  plan,  and  indicat- 
ed in  the  section,  before  the  propylaea,  occupy  the  situa- 
tion in  which  they  are  generally  found,  though  they  do 
not  exist  with  this  example.  Colossal  sedent  figures  are 
sometimes  found  before  the  piers  of  the  gateway  ; and  from 
them,  as  a base,  a long  avenue  of  sphinxes  is  frequently 
found  ranged  like  an  alley  or  avenue  of  trees  from  a man- 
sion to  the  park-gate,  straight  or  winding,  as  the  case  may 
require. 

The  longitudinal  section  of  the  edifice  shows  the  relative  Fig.  3. 
heights  of  the  various  parts,  and  the  mode  of  constructing 
the  soffits  or  ceilings,  which  are  of  the  same  material  of 
which  the  walls  and  columnar  ordinances  are  composed : 
this  is  in  some  cases  granite,  and  in  others  freestone. 

The  elevation  of  the  pronaos  shows  also  a transverse  sec- Fig.  2. 
tion  of  the  colonnades  and  peribolus.  It  displays  most  of 
the  general  features  of  Egyptian  columnar  architecture ; 
the  unbroken  continuity  of  outline,  the  pyramidal  tendency 
of  the  composition,  and  the  boldness  and  breadth  of  every 
part.  The  good  taste  with  which  the  interspaces  of  the 
columns  are  covered  may  be  remarked.  Panels  standing 
between  the  columns  would  have  had  a very  ill  effect, 
both  internally  and  externally ; and  if  a continued  screen 
had  been  made,  the  effect  would  be  still  worse,  as  the 
columns  must  then  have  appeared  from  the  outside  ab- 
surdly short ; but  as  it  is,  their  height  is  perfectly  obvious, 
and  their  form  is  rendered  clear  by  the  contrast  of  light 
and  shade  occasioned  by  the  projection  of  the  panels, 
which  would  not  exist  if  they  had  been  detailed  between 
the  columns.  The  lotus  ornament  at  the  foot  of  the  Figs. C &.  7* 
panels  is  particularly  simple  and  elegant;  and  nothing  can 
be  more  graceful  and  effective  than  the  cyma  above  their 
cornice,  which  is  singularly  enriched  with  ibis  mummy- 
cases.  The  jambs  forming  a false  doorway  in  the  central 
interspace,  are  a blemish  in  the  composition  ; and  they  in- 
jure it  very  much  by  the  abruptness  of  their  form,  and 
their  want  of  harmony  with  any  thing  else  in  it.  It  may 
be  remarked,  that  the  effect  of  the  front  generally  is  that 


30  ARCHITECTURE. 


Egyptian  of  an  excavation  rather  than  of  a structure,  the  end  piers 
Structures.  an(J  entablature  having  a unity  of  purpose,  which  leads 
to  t]ie  idea  that  the  rest  was  similar,  or  the  whole  at  first 
a plain  wall  afterwards  pierced  and  carved  into  its  present 
form.  This  view  of  it  would  support  the  supposition  that 
the  excavations  or  hypogea  are  the  antitypes  of  columnar 
architecture. 

Fig.  1.  The  front  elevation  of  the  moles  or  propylasa,  with  the 
grand  entrance  between  them,  is  peculiarly  Egyptian;  and 
very  little  variety  is  discoverable  between  the  earliest  and 
latest  specimens  of  this  species  of  structure.  It  is  an  ob- 
ject that  must  be  seen  to  be  appreciated ; simplicity  and 
an  inherent  impressiveness  in  the  pyramidal  tendency  are 
all  on  which  it  has  to  depend  for  effect,  except  magnitude, 
which  alone  would  certainly  make  no  agreeable  impres- 
sion on  the  mind.  The  projecting  fillet  and  coving  which 
form  a cornice  to  the  structures,  though  large  and  hold, 
appear  small  and  inefficient  when  compared  with  the  bulk 
they  crown  ; and  there  is  nothing  particularly  striking  in 
the  torus  which  marks  the  lateral  outline  and  separates 
the  straight  line  of  the  front  from  the  circular  of  the  cor- 
nice. Neither  are  they  dependent  for  their  effect  on  the 
sculpture,  for  their  appearance  is  as  impressive  at  such 
a distance  as  to  make  the  latter  indistinct,  as  near,  if  not 
more  so.  The  effect  of  the  sculptures  and  hieroglyphics 
generally  on  Egyptian  architecture  is  to  enrich  the  sur- 
faces, but  not  to  interfere  with  the  general  form  of  a struc- 
ture, or  even  with  those  of  its  minor  parts. 

A portion  of  the  portico  is  given  on  a larger  scale,  to 
show  more  clearly  the  forms  and  arrangement  of  Egyptian 
columnar  composition.  The  shaft  of  the  column  in  this 
Fig-  5.  example  is  perfectly  cylindrical.  It  rests  on  a square 
step,  or  continued  stylobate,  without  the  intervention  of 
a plinth  or  base  of  any  kind ; and  has  no  regular  vertical 
channelling  or  enrichment,  such  as  fluting,  but  is  marked 
horizontally  with  series  of  grooves,  and  inscribed  with 
hieroglyphics.  The  capitals  are  of  different  sizes  and 
forms  in  the  same  ordinance.  This  example  is  about  one 
diameter  of  the  column  in  height,  exclusive  of  its  receding 
abacus.  Its  outline  is  that  of  the  cyma,  with  a reversed 
ovalo  fillet  above,  and  its  enrichment  consists  principally 
Fig-  2-  0f  l0tus  flowers.  The  capital  of  the  column  next  to  this, 
in  the  front  line,  is  much  taller,  differently  formed,  and 
ornamented  with  palm  leaves ; the  third  is  of  the  same 
size  and  outline  as  the  first,  but  differently  ornamented; 
and  the  corresponding  columns  on  the  other  side  of  the 
centre  have  capitals  corresponding  with  these,  each  to  its 
fellow,  in  the  arrangement.  Above  the  capital  there  is  a 
square  block  or  receding  abacus,  which  has  the  effect  of  a 
deepening  of  the  entablature,  instead  of  a covering  of  the 
columns  when  the  capitals  spread,  as  in  this  case.  In  the 
PI.  LV.  earlier  Egyptian  examples,  however,  in  which  the  columns 

Fig-  7-  are  swollen,  and  diminished  in  two  unequal  lengths,  the 

result  is  different,  and  the  form  and  size  of  the  abacus 
PI.  LVI.  appear  perfectly  consistent.  The  height  of  this  column 
Fig-  5-  and  its  capital,  without  the  abacus,  is  six  diameters. 

The  entablature  consists  of  an  architrave  and  cornice, 
there  being  no  equivalent  for  the  frieze  of  a Greek  entab- 
lature, unless  the  coving  be  so  considered,  in  which  case 
the  cornice  becomes  a mere  shelf.  The  architrave,  in- 
cluding the  torus,  is  about  three  quarters  of  a diameter 
in  height,  which  is  half  that  of  the  whole  entablature. 
The  architrave  itself  is  in  this  example  sculptured  in  low 
relief,  but  otherwise  plain.  The  torus,  which  returns  and 
runs  down  the  angles  of  the  building,  is  gracefully  band- 
ed, something  like  the  manner  in  which  the  fasces  are 
represented  in  Roman  works.  The  coving  is  divided  into 
compartments  by  vertical  flutes,  which  have  been  thought 
to  be  the  origin  of  triglyphs  in  a Doric  frieze  ; but  these 
are  arranged  without  reference  to  the  columns,  and  are 


in  other  respects  so  totally  different  from  them  as  to  give  Hindoo 
but  little  weight  to  the  opinion.  The  compartments  are  Structures, 
beautifully  enriched  with  hieroglyphics,  except  in  theV^^v^w' 
centre,  where  a winged  globe  is  sculptured,  surmounting 
another  on  the  architrave,  as  shown  in  the  elevation  of 
the  pronaos.  The  crowning  tablet  or  fillet  is  quite  plain 
and  unornamented.  Angular  roofs  are  unknown  in  an- 
cient Egyptian  buildings,  and  consequently  pediments  are 
unknown  in  its  architecture. 

Of  the  style  of  architecture  used  in  the  domestic  edi- 
fices of  the  Egyptians  we  can  give  no  idea,  as  no  docu- 
ments remain  by  which  it  may  be  known ; neither  can  we 
judge  of  it  by  analogy  from  what  we  know  of  that  of 
other  nations  of  antiquity,  for  no  direct  analogy  exists 
between  the  styles  of  their  mutually  existing  structures. 

Indeed  the  Romans  are  the  only  people,  above  the  Chris- 
tian era,  of  whose  domestic  architecture  we  know  any 
thing  with  certainty;  and  the  advantages  they  possessed 
over  their  predecessors  in  their  knowledge  of  the  use  of 
the  arch  was  so  great,  for  that  purpose  especially,  that 
theirs  affords  no  ratio  for  that  of  the  Greeks  even,  and 
still  less  for  that  of  the  Egyptians. 

Of  Hindoo  Structures. 

From  local  circumstances,  structures  in  India  are  ex- 
posed to  rapid  destruction  as  soon  as  they  lose  the  pro- 
tecting power  of  man ; and  thus  the  absence  of  any  posi- 
tive architectural  works  in  that  county  which  can  be  de- 
termined to  be  of  high  antiquity  may  be  partly  accounted 
for.  But  religious  intolerance  and  devastating  war  have 
conspired  together  to  aid  natural  causes  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  ancient  edifices  of  the  Hindoos.  Whatever 
of  antiquity  fell  in  the  route  of  that  ruthless  conqueror 
Mali  mood  of  Ghizni,  in  his  twelve  expeditions  into  India, 
was  defaced  or  destroyed  ; and  those  structures  in  the  more 
remote  parts,  impervious  to  his  march,  either  want  data  to 
pronounce  on  their  antiquity,  or,  when  they  possess  any,  it 
is  in  a character  still  unintelligible  to  the  learned.  But 
there  are  some  to  which  tradition — and  this  we  should  not 
altogether  reject — assigns  a date  beyond  the  age  of  Alex- 
ander ; and  we  understand  that  the  unity  of  style  of  these 
warrants  the  assumption  of  immense  priority  for  them  to 
all  now  existing  in  Gangetic  India.  It  is  from  Rajpootana 
that  we  may  yet  look  for  developments  of  the  ancient 
architecture  of  the  Hindoos  ; a field  of  great  magnitude, 
only  just  begun  to' be  explored,  and  still  remaining  unde- 
lineated. Extensive  excavations,  however,  of  much  greater 
magnitude  even  than  those  of  Egypt,  and,  it  is  presumed, 
of  at  least  equal  antiquity,  are  found  in  various  parts  of  In- 
dia ; and  they  may  be  supposed  to  bear  some  resemblance 
to  their  contemporaneous  structures,  of  which,  most  like- 
ly, they  were  either  the  representations  or  the  originals. 

But  we  thus  arrive  only  at  the  style:  the  composition 
and  arrangement  of  structures  cannot  be  deduced  from 
the  hypogea;  for  though  these  latter  in  Egypt  agree  in 
style  with  the  architecture,  they  would  not  suggest  the 
other  particulars. 

The  most  common  Hindoo  pagoda  of  the  present  day 
is  composed  of  a rectangular  mass,  surmounted  by  a gra- 
duated truncate  pyramid.  That  this  species  of  structure 
is  of  very  considerable  antiquity,  may  he  concluded  from 
the  fact,  that  every  thing  in  its  composition  and  arrange- 
ment is  determined  by  immutable  precepts  of  a religious 
nature.  This  was  ascertained  by  Colonel  Tod,  the  learned 
annalist  of  Central  India,  from  a man  to  whom  the  pre- 
cept had  descended  with  his  profession  from  his  ancestors 
through  more  than  forty  generations. 

These  kinds  of  evidence,  however,  though  interesting, 
are  not  conclusive;  and  we  must  consent,  for  the  pre- 
sent at  least,  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  Hindoo  archi- 


ARCR1T 

Grecian  tecture  of  the  early  ages,  to  which  our  inquiry  is  more 
Structures. immecJiately  directed.  The  splendid  works  of  the  Mos- 
lem  conquerors  of  that  country  bear  no  relation  whatever 
to  its  indigenous  architecture. 

Of  Grecian  Structures. 

As  no  nation  has  ever  equalled  the  Egyptians  in  the 
extent  and  magnitude  of  their  architectural  monuments, 
neither  have  the  Greeks  been  surpassed  in  the  exquisite 
beauty  of  form  and  proportion  which  theirs  possess.  Ex- 
treme simplicity  and  perfect  harmony  pervade  every  part 
of  a Greek  structure ; and  to  the  evanescence  of  the  finer 
spirit  of  these  qualities  may  be  referred  the  difficulty — 
for  great  difficulty  certainly  exists — of  applying  Grecian 
architecture  to  modern  practice.  The  national  style,  or 
Doric  Order,  is  in  every  respect  the  most  distinguished 
and  the  most  intractable.  The  voluted  Ionic  being  more 
complicated,  is  more  plastic ; and  the  foliated  Corin- 
thian, from  its  still  greater  divergence  from  Doric  sim- 
plicity and  harmony,  is  the  most  easily  moulded  to 
various  purposes.  Unfortunately  nothing  remains  from 
which  we  might  acquire  a knowledge  of  the  practice 
of  the  Greeks  themselves  in  the  architecture  of  do- 
mestic and  general  structures ; but  it  may  be  inferred 
from  some  existing  edifices,  particularly  the  Choragic 
monuments,  that  the  Doric  columnar  style  was  not  used 
by  them  except  for  the  temples  of  the  gods  and  some 
of  their  accessories.  But  whether  this  arose — if  the 
feeling  really  did  exist — from  the  sanctity  of  its  cha- 
racter, in  consequence  of  that  appropriation,  or  from  the 
difficulty  of  moulding  it  to  general  purposes,  cannot  be 
determined.  It  is  very  certain,  however,  that  the  few 
structures  which  do  exist  of  Greek  origin,  not  of  a reli- 
gious character,  are  either  Ionic  or  Corinthian,  or  a mix- 
ture of  one  of  them  with  some  of  the  features  of  the  Do- 
ric ; and  in  all  Greece  and  the  Grecian  colonies,  except 
Ionia,  there  are  very  few  examples  of  religious  edifices 
not  of  the  Doric  order,  and  none  which  are  of  the  Corin- 
thian. 

We  have  already  given  our  reasons  for  mistrusting  the 
descriptions  of  ancient  writers  on  architectural  subjects ; 
and  when  they  merely  make  reference  to  different  parts 
of  a structure,  without  pretending  to  describe,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  examples  or  models  they  must  be  unintelligible, 
and  therefore  no  more  valuable  to  the  architectural  anti- 
quary than  those  of  the  others,  whom  existing  specimens 
of  what  they  profess  to  describe  prove  to  have  been  to- 
tally ignorant  of  their  subject.  We  shall  therefore  not 
attempt  to  develope  what  does  not  exist,  either  from  in- 
ferences to  be  drawn  from  Homer  and  others,  from  the 
professional  dicta  of  Vitruvius,  or  from  the  description  of 
Pausanias ; but  confine  ourselves  to  the  remains  of  the 
architecture  itself  of  the  Greeks,  which  are  actually  be- 
fore our  eyes,  for  the  elucidation  and  exemplification  of 
the  Grecian  style. 

Like  the  architecture  of  Egypt,  that  of  Greece  is  known 
to  us  principally  by  means  of  its  sacred  monuments,  and 
from  them  is  deduced  almost  all  we  know  of  its  principles. 
The  Doric  temples  of  the  Greeks  are  uniform  in  plan, 
and  differ  only  in  arrangement  and  proportion,  as  they  are 
of  greater  or  less  size ; for  every  part  depends  on  the  same 
thing.  If  the  dimensions  of  a single  column,  and  the  pro- 
portion the  entablature  shall  bear  to  it,  were  given  to  two 
individuals  acquainted  with  the  style,  with  directions  to 
compose  a hexastyle  peripteral  temple,  or  one  of  any  other 
description,  they  would  produce  designs  exactly  similar 
in  size,  arrangement,  features,  and  general  proportions, 
differing  only,  if  at  all,  in  the  relative  proportions  of  mi- 
nor parts,  and  slightly  perhaps  in  the  contour  of  some  of 
the  mouldings.  This  can  only  be  the  case  with  the  Do- 


ECTURE,  3i 

ric,  and  it  arises  from  the  intercolumniation  being  deter-  Grecian 
mined  by  the  arrangement  of  the  frieze  with  triglyphs  Structures, 
and  metopes;  the  frieze  bearing  a certain  proportion  in'^^',/^-y 
the  entablature  to  the  diameter  of  the  column,  and  so  on, 
in  such  a manner  that  the  most  perfect  harmony  is  pre-Pl.  LVI1. 
served  between  every  part.  Thus,  in  the  example,  the  Figs.  1 & 4. 
column  is  so  many  of  its  diameters  in  height ; it  diminishes 
gradually  from  the  base  upwards,  with  a slightly  convex- 
ed  tendency  or  swelling  downwards  ; and  is  superimposed 
by  a capital  proportioned  to  it,  and  coming  within  its 
height.  The  entablature  is  so  many  diameters  high  also, 
and  is  divided,  according  to  slightly  vai’ying  proportions, 
into  three  parts — architrave,  frieze,  and  cornice.  A triglyph 
bearing  a certain  proportion  to  the  diameter  of  the  co- 
lumn is  drawn  immediately  over  its  centre  ; the  metope  is 
then  set  off  equal  to  the  height  of  the  frieze ; another 
triglypli  is  drawn,  which  hangs  over  the  void  ; then  a me- 
tope as  before  ; and  a second  triglyph,  the  centre  of  which 
is  the  central  line  for  another  column ; and  so  on  to  the 
number  required,  which,  in  a front,  will  be  four,  six,  eight, 
or  ten  columns,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  temple  being  tetra- 
style,  hexastyle,  octastyle,  or  decastyle;  and  on  the  flanks 
twice  the  number  of  those  on  the  front  and  one  more,  PI.  LVIII. 
counting  the  columns  on  the  angles  both  wavs.  Thus  Fig-  3. 
a hexastyle  temple  will  have  thirteen  columns  on  eachtjk  .ViI’ 
flank,  an  octastyle  seventeen,  and  so  on.  It  must  be  °b- j--“s & 4 
served,  however,  that  to  ease  the  columns  at  the  angles,  ° ’ 
they  are  not  placed  so  that  the  triglyph  over  them  shall 
impend  their  centre  as  the  others,  but  are  set  in  towards 
the  next  columns  so  far  that  a line  let  fall  from  the  outer 
edge  of  the  triglyph  will  touch  the  circumferential  line  of 
the  column  at  the  base,  or  at  its  greatest  diameter.  It 
has  been  generally  thought  that  the  object  in  this  dispo- 
sition was  to  bring  the  triglyph  to  the  extreme  angle,  to 
obviate  the  necessity  of  a half-metope  there ; and  many 
imitators  have  puzzled  themselves  to  no  avail  to  effect  it, 
without  contracting  the  intercolumniation  or  elongating 
the  first  metope ; though  it  is  perfectly  obvious  that  the 
intention  of  the  Greek  architects  was  to  ease  the  columns 
in  those  important  situations  of  a part  of  their  burden, 
and  for  no  such  purpose  as  Vitruvius  and  his  disciples 
have  thought.  Indeed,  this  has  been  a problem  to  the 
whole  school,  which  their  master  proposed,  and  which 
they  have  settled  only  by  putting  a half-metope  beyond 
the  outer  triglyph ; thus  preserving  the  intercolumniation 
equal,  but  rendering  the  angles  more  infirm,  or  perhaps 
less  stable,  than  the  Greek  architects  judiciously  thought 
they  should  be.  Besides  contracting  the  intercolumnia- 
tion, the  Greeks  also  made  the  corner  columns  a little 
larger  than  the  rest,  thus  counteracting  in  every  way  the 
danger  that  might  accrue  to  them,  or  to  the  structure 
through  them,  from  their  exposed  and  partly  unconnected 
situation.  The  graduated  pyramidal  stylobate  on  which 
the  structure  rests  also  bears  a certain  proportion  to  the 
standard  which  is  the  measure  of  all  the  rest ; and  so 
every  part  is  determined  by  the  capacity  of  the  sustain- 
ing power.  Though  the  Doric  order  thus  possesses,  as  it 
were,  a self-proportioning  power,  which  will  secure  har- 
mony in  its  composition  under  any  circumstances,  yet 
skill  and  taste  in  the  architect  are  necessary  to  deter- 
mine, according  to  them,  the  number  of  diameters  the 
column  shall  have  in  height,  and  according  to  that  assign 
the  height  of  the  entablature.  For  these  two  points  in 
proportioning,  and  for  appropriate  detail  and  enrichment, 
lie  may,  without  servility,  refer  to  the  ancient  examples ; 
with  the  confidence,  moreover,  that  in  availing  himself  of 
their  beauties  he  acquires  the  power  of  producing  an  ob- 
ject that  shall  be  itself  beautiful,  while  he  can  avoid  being 
a mere  copyist  in  the  adaptation  and  arrangement  of  the 
materials  of  his  composition,  as  well  as  in  the  selection 


Sc2 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Grecian  of  them.  We  cannot  discover  that  the  elevation  of  the 
Structures,  pediment  depended  so  immediately  on  the  common  stand- 
W*""1  ard,  though  in  the  best  examples  the  tympanum  will  be 
found  to  be  about  one  diameter  and  a half  in  height. 

The  Ionic  and  Corinthian,  or  Voluted  and  Foliate 
orders,  do  not  possess  that  innate  principle  of  harmony 
which  pervades  the  Doric,  and  therefore  they  are,  as 
styles,  less  perfect,  and  depend  more  on  factitious  combi- 
nations. The  Greek  compositions  of  Ionic  and  Corinthian 
are  of  such  consummate  beauty  in  every  particular,  that 
their  examples  appear  perfect,  and  may  therefore  be  taken 
as  models  for  study,  in  preference  to  the  rules  which  have 
been  laid  down  for  those  orders,  without  a knowledge  of 
these  exemplifications.  With  a consciousness  of  their  in  - 
ferior capacity  to  produce  grand  and  harmonious  effects 
in  such  arrangements  as  their  temples  require,  the  Greeks 
never  applied  either  the  Ionic  or  the  Corinthian  peripte- 
rally,  and,  as  far  as  we  have  certain  knowledge,  only  the 
latter  in  prostyles.  Whether  the  Ionians  did  or  did  not, 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  ascertained,  as  their  temples  are  in 
every  case  so  much  destroyed,  that  it  is  impossible,  at  least 
without  more  care  and  attention  than  they  have  yet  re- 
ceived, to  make  out  satisfactorily  what  their  plans  were. 
In  the  Ionic  and  Corinthian  orders,  the  proportions  of  the 
various  parts  are  generally  made  dependent  on  the  diame- 
ter of  the  column,  as  in  the  Doric  ; but  the  intercolumni- 
ations,  and  consequently  the  general  proportions,  of  a com- 
position, are  not  determined  by  the  column  and  its  acces- 
sories according  to  their  capacity,  but  must  be  left  to  the 
taste  and  skill  of  the  architect,  as  well  as  the  columnar 
proportions  themselves.  This  gave  rise  to  the  rules  re- 
ferred to,  which  are  laid  down  by  Vitruvius,  for  what  he 
calls  the  “ Five  Sorts  of  Edifices,”  or,  more  correctly, 
species  of  intercolumniation.  They  are  pycnostyle,  systyie, 
diastyle,  arasostyle,  and  eustyle,  to  each  of  which  a fixed 
space  is  assigned.  Architects  will,  however,  act  more 
wisely  in  judging  for  themselves,  by  reference  to  the  best 
models  of  antiquity,  what  proportion  constitutes  an  Eustyle 
intercolumniation,  according  to  the  application  of  his 
ordinance,  than  by  attending  to  such  irrational  dogmas  as 
are  contained  in  that  classification. 

The  temples  of  the  Greeks  are  described,  according  to 
their  external  arrangement,  as  being  either  in  antis,  pro- 
style, amphiprostyle,  peripteral,  pseudo-peripteral,  dip- 
teral, or  pseudo-dipteral ; and  internally,  as  cleithral  or 
hypaethral.  The  columnar  arrangement  in  antis  is  not  com- 
mon in  Greek  architecture,  though  there  are  examples 
Ft.  LVII.  of  it,  generally  of  the  Doric  order.  The  inner  porticoes  or 
F>g-  2,  andpronaoi  of  peripteral  temples  are  for  the  most  part  placed 
l-JUU^'in  antis,  as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  examples, 
in  which  columns  stand  between  the  antae.  The  Ionic 
temples  of  Athens  are  the  principal  examples  of  the 
simple  prostyle.  They  may  be  called  apteral,  if  it  be  ne- 
cessary to  distinguish  them  from  peripteral,  as  the  latter 
are  prostylar ; but  the  former  term  alone  is  sufficient. 
Neither  does  Greek  architecture  present  more  than  one 
example,  and  that  is  at  Athens  also,  of  an  amphiprostyle, 
except  in  the  same  peripteral  structures,  which  are  also 
amphiprostylar.  Almost  all  the  Doric  temples  are  perip- 
teral, and  being  peripteral,  they  are,  as  a matter  of  course, 
amphiprostylar,  as  we  have  just  remarked  ; so  that  the  for- 
mer term  alone  is  used  in  describing  an  edifice  of  that 
kind,  with  the  numeral  which  expresses  the  number  of 
columns  in  each  of  its  prostyles.  There  is  but  one  known 
example  of  Greek  antiquity  of  a pseudo-peripteral  temple, 
and  that  is  the  gigantic  fane  of  Jupiter  Olympiusat  Agri- 


gentum  in  Sicily.  It  is  not  even  prostylar,  for  the  columns  Grecian 
on  its  fronts  are  attached,  as  well  as  those  on  its  flanks. Structures. 
The  dipteral  arrangement  is  found  at  Selinus,  in  an  octa-  ^ 
style  temple  ; and  in  some  cases  the  porticoes  of  peripteral 
temples  have  a pseudo-dipteral  projection,  though  no  per- 
fect example  of  the  pseudo-dipteros  exists. 

Most  of  the  temples  of  the  Greeks  were  cleithral ; those 
to  the  inferior  and  demi-gods  were  invariably  so.  The 
fanes  of  the  supreme  divinity  were  almost  as  invariably 
hypaethral,  and  frequently  those  of  other  superior  gods 
were  of  the  latter  description  also.  The  Doric  order  was 
never  used  by  the  Greeks  in  mere  prostyles ; consequent- 
ly there  is  no  Doric  temple  of  the  tetrastyle  arrangement, 
for  it  is  incompatible  with  the  peripteral,  the  tetrastyle 
examples  which  do  exist  being  all  Ionic.1  With  very  few 
exceptions,  all  the  Doric  temples  of  the  Greeks  are  hexa- 
style.  Their  queen,  however,  the  unmatched  Parthenon,  PI.  LIV. 
is  octastyle ; and  the  pseudo-peripteral  fane  of  Jupiter 
Olympius  at  Agrigentum,  just  referred  to,  presents  the 
singular  arrangement,  heptastyle.  No  example  exists  in 
Greek  architecture  of  a portico  of  more  than  eight  columns, 
except  the  mis-shapen  monument  called  the  Basilica  at 
Psestum,  theThersites  ofits  style,  be  so  considered,  and  that 
has  a front  of  nine  columns,  or  an  enneastyle  arrangement. 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  in  support  of  the  opinion  we 
have  given  as  to  the  authority  of  Vitruvius,  that,  ac- 
cording to  him,  peripteral  temples  have  on  each  flank 
twice  the  number  of  intercolumniations  they  have  in  front ; 
thus  giving  to  a hexastyle  eleven,  to  an  octastyle  fifteen 
columns,  and  so  on,  whereas  in  the  Greek  temples  this  is 
never  the  case,  for  they  always  have  more.  The  best  ex- 
amples have  two,  some  have  but  one,  but  many  have  three, 
and  in  one  instance  there  are  four  intercolumniations  more 
in  flank  than  in  front.  Again,  he  limits  the  internal  hy- 
pscthral  arrangement  to  those  structures  which  are  exter- 
nally decastyle  and  dipteral,  though  an  example,  he  says, 
existed  in  Greece  of  an  octastyle  hypaethros,  and  that  was 
a Roman  structure.  Now,  the  Parthenon  is  an  octastyle 
hypaethros,  but  all  the  other  hypaethral  temples,  both  in 
Greece  and  her  colonies,  are  hexastyles,  except  perhaps 
the  octastyle  dipteral  at  Selinus  ; and  there  is  no  evidence 
in  existence  that  the  Greeks  ever  constructed  a decastyle 
dipteral  temple. 

A Greek  temple,  whose  columnar  arrangement  is  sim- 
ply in  antis,  whether  distyle  or  tetrastyle,  consists  of  pro- 
naos  and  naos  or  cella.  A tetraprostyle  may  have  be- 
hind it  a pronaos  and  naos.  An  amphiprostyle  has,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  preceding,  a posticum,  but  is  not  understood 
to  have  a second  entrance.  The  porticoes  of  a peripteral 
temple  are  distinguished  as  the  porticus  and  posticum, 
and  the  lateral  ambulatories  are  incorrectly  called  peri- 
styles. It  may  indeed  be  here  suggested,  that  as  the  ad- 
mixture of  Latin  with  Greek  terms  in  the  description  ot 
a Grecian  edifice  cannot  be  approved  of,  it  would  perhaps 
be  better  to  apply  the  term  stoa  to  the  colonnaded  plat- 
form or  ambitus  altogether,  and  distinguish  the  various 
parts  of  it  by  the  addition  of  English  adjectives : or  the 
common  term  portico  would  be  quite  as  well  with  front, 
back,  and  side  or  lateral,  prefixed,  as  the  case  may  be. 

Within  the  back  and  front  stoas  or  porticoes,  then,  a pe-  Pl.LVIII. 
ripteral  temple  has  similar  arrangements  in  antis,  which  Fig-  3. 
are  relatively  termed  the  pronaos  and  opisthodomus,  with 
an  entrance  only  from  the  former;  unless  there  should 
exist,  as  there  does  in  the  Parthenon,  a room  or  chamber  PI.  LVII. 
within  the  opisthodomus,  supposed  to  be  the  treasury,  Fig.  3. 
when  a door  opens  into  it  from  the  latter.  Besides  these. 


1 Athens  itself  containing  a Doric  tetraprostyle,  may  seem  to  contradict  this ; but  it  must  be  recollected  that  we  have  already 
said  (page  410),  that  in  speaking  of  Greek  architecture,  we  exclude  all  the  examples,  even  in  Greece  itself,  which  were  executed 
under  the  Roman  dominion,  for  they  bear  the  Roman  impress ; and  that  is  one  of  them. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Grecian  a Greek  temple  of  the  most  ramified  description  consists 

Structures.  on]y  0f  a cell,  jn  those  which  are  cleithral;  and  of  a naos, 
which  is  divided  into  nave  and  aisles,  to  use  modern  eccle- 
siastical terms,  in  an  hypaethral  temple. 

The  only  pure  Greek  architectural  works  that  remain 
to  us,  and  of  which  we  have  certain  information,  besides 
temples,  are,  it  has  been  already  stated,  propylaea,  cbora- 
gic  monuments,  and  theatres.  The  Propyla?um,  by  way  of 
eminence,  that  to  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  is  the  entrance 
or  gateway  through  the  wall  of  the  peribolus  into  it.  It 
consists  of  a Doric  hexaprostyle  portico  internally,  with 
a very  singular  arrangement  of  its  columns,  the  central 
intercolumniation  being  ditriglyph.  This  was  done  pro- 
bably to  allow  a certain  procession  to  pass,  which  would 
have  been  incommoded  by  a narrower  space.  Within  the 
portico  there  is  a deep  recess,  similar  to  the  pronaos  in  a 
temple,  but  without  columns  in  antis ; a wall  pierced  with 
five  doorways  corresponding  to  the  intercolumniations  of 
the  portico,  close  the  entrance ; and  beyond  it  is  a vesti- 
bule, divided  into  three  parts  by  two  rows  of  three  Ionic 
columns,  and  forming  an  outer  portico,  fronted  externally 
by  a hexaprostyle  exactly  similar  to  that  on  the  outside. 
Right  and  left  of  it,  and  setting  out  about  one  intercolum- 
niation of  the  portico  from  its  end  columns,  at  right  angles, 
are  two  small  triastyle  porticoes  in  antis,  with  chambers  be- 
hind them.  These  have  been  called  temples,  but  most 
probably  they  were  nothing  more  than  porters’  lodges  or 
guard-houses.  The  whole  structure,  though  extremely 
elegant,  and  possessing  many  beauties,  is  not  a good  ar- 
chitectural composition  : the  unequal  intercolumniation 
detracts  from  its  simplicity  and  harmony.  The  use  of  Ionic 
columns  in  a Doric  ordinance  is  equally  objectionable; 
and  their  elevation  from  the  floor  of  the  portico  on  insu- 
lated pedestals  is  even  worse,  though  their  intention  is 
obvious ; and  without  raising  them,  the  ceiling  might  have 
been  too  low,  or  they  must  have  been  made  taller.1  The 
uneven  style  of  the  small  temples  or  lodges  is  not  pleasing, 
even  though  they  be  taken  as  flank  and  not  as  front  com- 
positions ; and,  moreover,  their  entablature  abuts  indefi- 
nitely against  the  walls  of  the  larger  structure,  both  in- 
ternally and  externally,  to  the  total  destruction  of  the 
harmony  of  the  general  composition.  Indeed  the  unequal 
heights  of  the  entablature  of  the  greater  ordinance  in- 
volves a fault,  if  there  were  not  something  to  prevent 
them  from  being  seen  in  the  same  view,  which  it  requires 
more  than  all  the  beauties  of  detail  and  harmony  of  pro- 
portion to  countervail. 

PI.  LX.  The  choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates,  vulgarly  called 

Fig.  1 &2.  the  Lanthorn  of  Demosthenes,  at  Athens,  is  a small  struc- 
ture, consisting  of  an  elegant  rusticated  quadrangular 
basement  or  podium,  which  is  more  than  two  fifths  of  the 
whole  height,  surmounted  by  a cyclostyle  of  six  Corin- 
thian columns,  attached  to,  and  projecting  rather  more 
than  one  half  from,  a wall  which  perfects  the  cylinder  up 
to  the  top  of  their  shafts,  where  it  forms  a podium  for  tri- 
pods the  height  of  the  capitals.  A characteristic  enta- 
blature rests  on  the  columns,  and  receives  a tliolus  or 
dome,  which  is  richly  ornamented,  and  terminates  in  a 
foliated  and  heliced  acroterium.  To  this  Stuart  has  add- 
ed dolphins  as  supporters,  and  has  placed  on  the  summit 
a tripod,  which  was  the  prize  in  the  choragic  festival ; 
thus  completing  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  composition 
in  its  style  ever  executed.  In  Vitruvian  language  the  ar- 
rangement of  this  edifice  would  be  called  monopteral ; 
but  it  is  more  correctly  cyclostylar,  or,  perhaps,  because 
of  the  wall  or  core,  it  may  be  termed  a pseudo  or  attached 


DO 

cyclostyle.  The  basement  of  this  monument  is  eminently  Grecian 
bold  and  simple,  admirably  proportioned  to  the  rest  of  the  Structures, 
structure,  and  harmonizing  perfectly  with  it.  The 
lumnar  ordinance  is  the  only  perfect  specimen  of  the  style  1 
in  existence  of  pure  Greek  origin,  and  it  has  never  been 
surpassed,  perhaps  not  equalled,  in  beauty  elsewhere.  The 
most  exquisite  harmony  reigns  throughout  its  composi- 
tion : it  is  simple  without  being  poor,  and  rich  without 
being  meretricious ; and  the  same  applies  to  the  super- 
imposed tripod  and  its  supports. 

Totally  different  in  style  and  arrangement,  and  far  in- 
ferior in  merit,  is  the  choragic  monument  of  Thrasyllus. 

It  bears,  however,  the  impress  of  the  Grecian  mind.  This 
composition  is  merely  a front  to  a cave,  consisting  of  three 
pilasters  proportioned  and  moulded  like  Doric  antse,  and 
supporting  an  entablature  similar  in  style,  but  too  shallow 
to  harmonize  with  them.  Above  the  entablature  there  is 
an  attic  or  parapet,  divided  into  three  compartments  hori- 
zontally. The  two  external  form  tablets  with  a cornice  or 
impost  on  them,  and  the  central  is  composed  of  three  re- 
ceding courses,  on  the  summit  of  which  is  seated  a draped 
human  figure,  whether  male  or  female,  in  its  mutilated 
state  is  not  determinable.  The  entablature,  instead  of 
triglyphs  in  the  frieze,  has  laurel  wreaths;  and  it  would 
appear  as  if  the  absence  of  that  feature  had  deranged  the 
whole  composition.  The  two  outer  pilasters  are  of  good 
proportion,  and  the  architrave  is  well  proportioned  to  them ; 
but  the  frieze  and  cornice  are  both  too  narrow,  and 
the  spaces  between  the  pilasters,  equivalent  to  interco- 
lumniations, are  too  wide.  The  third  pilaster,  itself  in- 
harmonious, is  absurdl}r  narrow,  being  narrower  than  the 
others;  and,  standing  immediately  under  the  statue,  evi- 
dently to  support  it,  its  meagreness  is  the  more  obvious 
and  striking.  In  spite  of  all  this,  the  general  outline  of 
the  structure  is  simple  and  pleasing,  the  detail  is  elegant, 
and  the  execution  spirited  and  effective.  This  little  mo- 
nument is,  however,  a proof  that  the  Greeks  were  not  so 
excellent  in  architectural  compositions  at  all  times,  as  in 
the  self-composing  Doric  temples,  and  in  the  choragic 
monument  of  Lysicrates ; and  to  this  evidence  may  be 
added  that  of  the  triple  temple  in  the  Acropolis  of  Athens. 

It  consists  of  an  Ionic  hexaprostyle  in  front,  resting  on  a PL  LIX. 
bold,  continuous,  and  well-proportioned  stylobate,  and 
forming  the  entrance  to  a parallelogramic  cella,  but, 
from  all  that  has  yet  been  discovered,  without  a pronaos 
in  antis.  The  back-front  consists  of  four  columns  like 
those  of  the  portico,  attached  in  antis ; and  the  flanks  are 
broad  and  bold,  crowned  by  the  well-proportioned  and 
chaste  entablature,  with  the  enriched  congeries  of  mould- 
ings and  running  ornament  of  the  antae  under  it.  In  the 
absence  of  a pronaos  to  give  depth  to  the  portico,  the 
composition  was  defective,  but  otherwise  simple  and  har- 
monious. It  was,  however,  completely  spoiled  by  the  at- 
tachment of  a tetiaprostyle  to  one  of  its  sides,  Ionic  cer- 
tainly, like  that  in  front,  but  not  only  in  a different  man- 
ner, but  of  a different  size ; beautiful  in  itself,  but  a blot 
on  the  main  building,  with  which  it  harmonizes  in  no  one 
particular,  being  altogether  lower ; for  the  apex  of  its  pe- 
diment only  reaches  to  the  cornice  of  the  former.  This 
and  the  Caryatidean  portico  are  omitted  in  the  example. 

In  a similar  situation,  against  the  other  side  is  attached  a 
similar  arrangement  of  Caryatides,  ate  traprostyle  of  female 
figures  raised  on  a lofty  basement,  and  yet  not  reaching 
to  the  entablature  of  the  main  building, — according  in  no 
one  particular  either  with  it  or  with  the  portico  on  the 
other  side,  and  altogether  forming  the  most  heterogeneous. 


1 An  editorial  note  in  the  new  edition  of  The  Antiquities  of  Athens  says  that  “ they  are  incorrectly  mounted  on  pedestals”  in  Stuart 
and  Revett’s  Restoration.  This  structure  cannot  perhaps  fairly  be  judged  of,  until  its  site  and  remains  shall  have  been  examined 
without  the  jealous  supervision  of  a Turkish  governor. 


34  ARC  H I T 

Grecian  and  inharmonious  combination  imaginable.  Yet  the  two 
Structures.  Ionic  porticoes  are  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  their 
order  in  existence,  and  perhaps,  it  may  be  added,  that 
were  ever  executed, — arranged  in  the  finest  proportion, 
and  with  the  most  exquisite  details  and  enrichments. 
The  Caryatidean  frontispiece,  also,  for  more  it  cannot  be 
called,  is  full  of  architectural  beauties,  though  it  is  most 
injudiciously  collocated. 

The  theatres  of  the  Greeks,  it  has  been  already  inti- 
mated, present  but  little  to  interest  in  the  view  we  are 
taking  of  architecture.  They  were  not  structures,  but  ex- 
cavations ; and  whatever  decoration  they  may  have  re- 
ceived to  make  them  objects  of  interest  externally,  is,  in 
every  known  example,  entirely  gone ; and  attempts  to  re- 
store them  from  their  existing  remains,  and  the  informa- 
tion to  be  derived  from  ancient  writers,  would  be  futile, 
without  a knowledge  of  Greek  architecture  gained  else- 
where, proving  that  they  themselves  cannot  furnish  it, 
and  of  course  cannot  yield  it  to  us.  No  example  of  it 
furnishing  us  with  matter  for  architectural  illustration,  we 
should  gain  no  information  in  furtherance  of  our  present 
subject  by  treating  of  it  here. 

The  division  of  the  columnar  architecture  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans  into  orders  by  the  Italian  architects  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  according  to  the  laws  of  Vitruvius,  and 
the  universal  reception  of  that  mode  of  arranging  it,  al- 
most imposes  on  us  the  necessity  of  adopting  the  same 
course,  and  laying  down  a standard  or  model  for  each. 
But  instead  of  so  doing,  we  think  it  better  to  give  each 
school  separately,  and  describe  the  general  features  of  the 
orders  as  they  occur  in  the  works  of  each, — pointing  out, 
moreover,  the  varieties  that  exist,  and  prevent  the  mono- 
tony consequent  on  restricted  forms  and  proportions.  We 
retain,  too,  the  term  “ Order,”  and  the  names  in  general 
use,  without  consenting  to  the  propriety  of  either  the  one 
or  the  other ; for  if  it  be  judicious  to  divide  Greek  and 
Roman  columnar  architecture  into  orders,  there  can  be 
no  reason  why  Egyptian,  Hindoo,  Persian,  or  any  other 
style,  should  not  be  classed  in  a similar  manner.  More- 
over, there  is  nothing  in  any  one  “ order”  that,  were  it 
not  for  custom,  would  not  be  thought  as  fitting  in  any 
other  as  in  that  to  which  it  may  belong.  The  Greeks  did 
not  hesitate  to  put  triglyphs  in  the  frieze  of  an  entablature 
whose  columns  were  fillet-fluted  and  had  foliated  capi- 
tals, as  some  ruins  at  Paestum  attest.  As  to  names,  the 
Doric  might,  as  we  have  said,  be  called  Corinthian  with 
more  propriety;  the  Ionic,  Samian;  and  the  Corinthian, 
Athenian ; referring  to  the  oldest  known  examples  of 
each.  The  term  Style  would  be  more  correct  than  Order, 
as  it  would  indicate  the  column  as  the  feature  referred 
to,  without  conveying  the  idea  of  fixed  rules ; and  archi- 
tectural works  into  which  columns  do  not  enter  need  not 
be  constrained  to  admit  the  arrangement  of  some  Order 
in  the  composition,  proportion,  and  detail  of  its  various 
parts.  In  naming,  too,  the  Doric  might  be  called  the 
Greek  sacred  or  triglyphed  style;  the  Ionic,  the  Voluted 
style ; and  the  Corinthian,  the  Foliated ; thus  admitting 
any  varieties  of  combination  which  could  be  expressed  as 
composites  of  the  voluted  and  foliate,  or  of  the  foliate  and 
triglyphed,  as  the  case  might  be. 

An  Order,  according  to  Mr  Gwilt,  is  “ an  assemblage 
of  parts,  consisting  of  a base,  shaft,  capital,  architrave, 
frieze,  and  cornice,  whose  several  services  requiring  some 
distinction  in  strength,  have  been  contrived  or  designed 
in  five  several  species,... each  of  which  has  its  ornaments 
as  well  as  general  fabric  proportioned  to  its  strength  and 
character.”  Perrault  says  that  an  order  may  be  defined 
“ a rule  for  the  proportion  of  columns,  and  for  the  form 
of  certain  parts  which  belong  to  them,  according  to  the 
different  proportions  which  they  have.”  We  would  have 


ECTUR  E. 

it  understood  to  be  a species  of  columnar  arrangement,  Grecian 
differing  in  its  forms  and  general  proportions,  and  in  some  Doric, 
leading  features,  from  any  other.  Greek  columnar  archi- 
tecture  may  thus  be  divided  into  the  three  arrangements 
or  orders,  Doric,  Ionic,  and  Corinthian,  which  form  its 
classes  or  styles.  In  considering  them,  however,  it  is 
necessary  to  discharge  the  mind  of  all  the  absurdities  of 
the  Italo-Vitruvian  school  about  the  proportions  of  the 
human  figure  being  applied  to  columns,  whether  virile,  ma- 
tronal, or  virginal ; about  the  trunks  of  trees  and  rafters’ 
feet ; whether  Doric  columns  should  not  have  bases  be- 
cause men  have  feet,  or  that  Ionic  columns  should  have 
them  because  women  wore  sandals  ; that  the  guttae  in  a 
Doric  entablature  should  be  conical,  and  not  pyramidal, 
because  they  are  to  look  like  drops  of  water ; that  sculls, 
furies,  thunderbolts,  and  daggers  may  be  used  to  enrich 
a Doric  frieze,  but  that  spears,  and  swords,  and  stars,  and 
garters  may  not; — these,  with  the  thousand  other  puer- 
ilities of  the  Cinquecentists,  whether  Italian,  French,  or 
English, — whether  acquired  from  the  writings  of  Palladio 
and  Scamozzi,  of  Perrault  and  Leclerc,  or  of  Wotton  and 
Chambers, — must  be  forgotten,  and  the  greater  or  less 
degree  of  beauty  resulting  from  this  or  that  mode  of  ar- 
rangement and  detail  alone  attended  to. 

Not  to  induce  the  idea  that  the  quoted  examples  of  the 
antique  should  be  imitated  to  the  line  and  letter,  but  ra- 
ther in  spirit,  we  shall  speak  of  the  proportions  of  their 
various  parts  generally;  though  it  must  at  the  same  time 
be  understood  that  much  of  the  beauty  of  a columnar 
composition  depends  on  its  minutiae : still  it  is  not  neces- 
sary that  these  minutiae  should  be  mere  repetitions  of  an 
original ; it  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  antique  models  that  ex- 
cellence is  to  be  sought,  and  not  in  crude  rules  for  their 
reproduction. 

Of  the  Grecian  Doric. 

This  order  may  be  divided  into  three  parts,  Stylobate, 

Column,  and  Entablature.  The  stylobate  is  from  two 
thirds  to  a whole  diameter  of  the  column  in  height,  in 
three  equal  courses,  which  recede  gradually  the  one  above 
from  the  one  below  it,  and  on  the  floor  or  upper  step  the 
column  rests.  That  graduation,  it  may  be  remarked,  does 
"not  appear  to  have  been  made  by  the  ancients  to  facilitate 
the  access  to  the  floor  of  the  stoa  or  portico,  but  on  the 
principle  of  the  spreading  footings  of  a wall,  to  give  both 
real  and  apparent  firmness  to  the  structure,  both  of  which 
it  does  in  an  eminent  degree. 

The  column  varies  in  different  examples  from  four  to  PI.  LV. 
six  diameters  in  height,  of  which  the  capital,  including  Fig- 
the  necking,  is  rather  less  than  half  a diameter:  in  those  ^11. 
cases  in  which  a necking  does  not  exist,  the  capital  itself pi^j/VIII. 
occupies  nearly  the  same  proportion.  The  shaft  dimi-  p;,,  4> 
nishes  in  a slightly  curved  line,  called  entasis,  from  its  base 
or  inferior  diameter  upwards  to  the  hypotrachelium,  leav- 
ing it  at  that  place,  or  at  the  superior  diameter,  from  two 
thirds  to  four  fifths  of  the  lower  or  inferior,  which  latter 
is  the  diameter  always  intended  when  the  term  is  used  as 
a measure  of  proportion.  The  capital  consists  of  a neck- 
ing, an  echinus  or  ovalo,  and  an  abacus ; the  necking  is 
about  one  fifth  of  the  height  of  the  capital,  and  the  other 
two  members  equally  divide  the  remaining  four  fifths : 
when  there  is  no  necking,  the  ovalo  occupies  the  greater 
proportion  of  the  whole  height.  The  abacus  is  a square 
tablet,  whose  sides  are  rather  more  than  the  inferior  dia- 
meter of  the  column.  The  corbelling  of  the  ovalo  adapts 
it  to  both  the  diminished  head  of  the  shaft  and  the  ex- 
tended abacus,  flowing  into  the  one,  and  forming  a bed 
for  the  other  by  means  of  a graceful  cyma-reversa ; but  Fig.  C & 7. 
its  lower  part  is  encircled  by  three  or  four  rings  or  annu- 
lets, which  are  variously  formed  in  different  examples, 


ARCHITECTURE. 


35 


Grecian  and  which  are  the  means  of  giving  the  echinus  form  to 
Doric,  the  great  moulding,  although  it  is,  as  we  have  said,  part 
of  a cyma-reversa.  The  shaft  is  divided  generally  into 
twenty  flutes;  but  there  are  several  examples  with  sixteen, 
PL  LVII.  ant[  there  is  one  with  twenty-four.  The  flutes  are  some- 
pi  VIII  t‘mes  segments  of  circles,  sometimes  semiellipses,  and 
Fie  it&14  sometimes  eccentric  curves.  They  always  meet  in  an  arris 
° or  edge,  and  follow  the  entasis  and  diminution  of  the 

column  up  through  the  hypotrachelium  to  the  annulets, 
under  which  they  finish,  sometimes  with  a straight  and 
sometimes  with  a curved  head.  At  the  base  they  detail 
on  the  pavement  or  floor  of  the  stylobate. 

Fig.  4.  The  third  part  of  the  order,  the  entablature,  ranges  in 
various  examples  from  one  diameter  and  three  quarters  to 
rather  more  than  two  diameters  in  height,  of  which  about 
four  fifths  is  nearly  equally  divided  between  the  architrave 
and  frieze,  and  the  cornice  occupies  the  remaining  one 
fifth  : this  is  in  some  cases  exactly  the  distribution  of  the 
entablature.  The  architrave  is  in  one  broad  face,  four 
fifths,  and  sometimes  five  sixths  of  its  whole  height;  and 
the  remaining  fifth  or  sixth  is  given  to  a projecting  con- 
tinuous fillet  called  the  taenia,  which  occupies  one  half  the 
space,  and  a regula  or  small  lintel  attached  to  it,  in  lengths 
equal  to  the  breadth  of  the  triglyphs  above  in  the  frieze. 
From  the  regulae  six  small  cylindrical  drops  called  guttae 
depend.  There  are  examples  to  the  contrary,  but  it  may 
be  taken  as  a general  rule,  that  the  architrave  is  not  in 
the  same  vertical  line  with  the  upper  face  of  the  shaft,  or 
its  circumferential  line,  at  the  superior  diameter,  but  is 
projected  nearly  as  much  as  to  impend  the  line  or  face  of 
the  column  at  the  base.  The  frieze,  vertically,  is  plain 
about  six  sevenths  of  its  whole  height,  and  is  bounded 
above  by  a fascia,  slightly  projecting  from  it,  which  oc- 
cupies the  remaining  seventh.  Horizontally,  however, 
it  is  divided  into  triglyphs  and  metopes,  which  regulate 
the  intercolumniations  in  the  manner  that  has  been  al- 
ready described  ; the  former  being  nearly  a semidiame- 
ter in  width,  and  the  latter  the  space  interposed  between 
two  triglyphs,  generally  an  exact  square,  its  breadth 
being  equal  to  the  whole  height  of  the  frieze,  including 
the  fascia.  This  latter  breaks  round  the  triglyphs  hori- 
zontally, and  is  a little  increased  in  depth  on  them.  Each 
glyph,  of  which  there  are  two  whole  ones  and  two  halves 
to  every  tablet,  is  one  fifth  of  the  width  of  the  whole, 
and  the  interglyphs  are  each  one  seventh  of  the  whole 
tablet  or  triglyph.  The  glyphs  detail  on  the  taenia  of  the 
architrave,  but  are  variously  finished  above.  In  some  ex- 
amples they  are  nearly  sq.uare-lieaded,  with  the  angles 
rounded  off;  in  others  the  heads  are  regular  curves,  from 
a flat  segment  to  a semiellipsis.  The  semiglyphs  are 
finished  above  in  a manner  peculiar  to  themselves,  with  a 
turn  or  drop ; but  hardly  two  examples  correspond  in  that 
particular.  The  tablets  in  which  the  glyphs  are  cut  are 
vertical  to  the  face  of  the  architrave,  the  metopes  recede 
from  them  like  sunk  panels ; these  are  often  charged  with 
sculptures,  and  indeed  almost  appear  contrived  to  receive 
them.  The  third  and  crowning  part  of  the  entablature, 
the  cornice,  in  what  may  be  considered  the  best  examples, 
projects  from  the  face  of  the  triglyphs  and  architrave 
about  its  own  height.  Vertically,  it  is  divided  into  four 
equal  parts,  one  of  which  is  given  to  a square  projecting 
fillet  at  the  top,  with  a small  congeries  of  mouldings,  dif- 
ferent, and  differently  proportioned  to  each  other,  in  vari- 
ous examples.  Two  other  parts  are  given  to  the  corona, 
and  the  remaining  fourth  to  a narrow  sunk  face  below  it, 
with  the  mutules  and  their  guttae.  These  latter  form  the 
soffit  or  planceer  of  the  cornice,  which  is  not  horizontal  or 
at  right  angles  to  the  vertical  face  of  the  entablature  ge- 
nerally, but  is  cut  up  inwards  at  an  angle  of  about  80°. 
The  width  of  the  mutules  themselves  is  regulated  by  that 


of  the  triglyphs  over  which  they  are  placed,  to  which  it  Grecian 
is  exactly  equal.  They  are  ornamented  each  with  three  Doric, 
rows  of  six  small  cylinders,  similar  to  those  which  depend  ’'■“’’'Y'** 
from  the  regulae  under  the  triglyphs  and  on  the  archi- 
trave. There  are  twice  the  number  of  mutules  that  there 
are  of  triglyphs,  one  of  the  former  being  placed  over  every 
metope  also  in  the  manner  the  examples  indicate. 

This  completes  the  Greek  Doric  Order  according  to  the 
generally  received  sense  of  the  term ; but  there  are  other 
parts  necessary  to  it.  In  the  front  or  on  the  ends  of  a PI.  LVII I. 
temple,  or  over  a portico,  a pediment  is  placed.  Its  in- Fig.  1. 
tention  is  obviously  to  inclose  the  ends  of  the  roof,  but  it 
forms  no  less  a part  of  the  architectural  composition.  In 
reason,  it  should  be  raised  as  much  as  the  roof  required; 
but  when  the  span  is  great  that  would  be  unsightly  ; and 
reference  appears  to  have  been  made  to  the  common 
standard  of  proportion,  as  the  pediments  of  most  Doric 
temples  are  found  to  be  about  one  diameter  and  a half  in 
height  at  the  apex  of  the  tympanum,  which  in  a hexastyle 
arrangement  makes  an  angle  at  the  base  of  about  14°, 
and  in  an  octastyle  about  12^°.  The  pediment  is  covered 
by  the  cornice,  without  its  mutules,  rising  from  the  point 
of  its  crowning  fillet,  so  that  no  part  of  it  is  repeated  in 
profile.  Another  moulding,  however,  is  superimposed : 
sometimes  this  is  an  ovalo  with  a fillet  over  it,  and  some- 
times a cymatium.  It  varies  much  in  its  proportion  to  the 
cornice,  but  in  the  best  examples  it  is  about  one  half  the 
depth  of  the  latter  without  its  mutules.  Ornaments  of 
various  kinds,  statues  or  foliage,  are  believed  to  have  been 
placed  on  the  apices  and  at  the  feet  of  pediments  as 
acroteria.  Of  these,  however,  we  have  no  actual  remains; 
but  indications  of  the  plinths  or  blocks  which  may  have 
received  them  exist,  and  such  things  appear  represented 
in  ancient  coins  and  medallions.  The  tympana  of  pedi- 
ments are  well  known  as  receptacles  of  ornamental  sculp- 
ture. On  the  flank  of  a Doric  temple,  the  cornice  sup-  pp  LVII 
ported  a row  of  ornamented  tiles  called  antefixae.  These  Fig.  1. 
formed  a rich  and  appropriate  ornament,  but  they  rather 
belonged  to  the  roof  than  to  the  columnar  arrangement  or 
order.  The  antefixae  covered  the  ends  of  the  joint-tiles 
as  the  pediments  did  those  of  the  roofs ; and  correspond- 
ing ornaments  called  stelai  rose  out  of  the  apices  of  the 
joint-tiles,  forming  a highly  enriched  ridge. 

A secondary  Doric  order  arises  in  the  disposition  of  a Fig.  9. 
Grecian  temple,  from  the  columns  of  the  pronaos  and 
the  inner  part  of  the  external  entablature  continued  and 
repeated.  Of  this  the  frieze  is  generally  without  triglyphs, 
though  there  may  be  regulae  and  guttae  on  the  architrave. 

The  fascia  of  the  frieze  is  either  moulded  or  enriched  on 
the  face ; and,  instead  of  a cornice,  the  beams  of  the  ceiling 
are  laid  at  equal  intervals  to  support  sunk  panels  or  cof- 
fers, in  which  there  may  be  flowers  or  other  enrichments. 

The  proper  composition  and  arrangement  of  antae  are  as 
necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the  Doric  order  as  that  of 
the  columnar  ordinance  itself,  especially  if  the  latter  be 
in  antis.  A slight  projection  is  made  from  the  end  and  Fig.  2,  3, 
side  face  of  a wall,  forming  a species  of  pilaster,  whose  & 10;  and 
front  shall  be  nearly  equal  to  the  diameter  of  the  columns  LVIII. 
to  which  it  is  attached,  exactly  equal  indeed  to  the  soffit  3’ 
of  the  entablature,  whose  faces  have  been  described  to 
impend  the  circumferential  line  of  the  column  a little 
above  its  base.  This  rests  on  the  stylobate  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  columns  do,  with  sometimes  a small  conti- 
nuous moulding  as  a base;  and  its  capital  is  a congeries 
of  mouldings,  about  the  depth  of  the  abacus,  with  a plain 
fascia  corresponding  to  the  ovalo  of  the  columnar  capital. 

The  entablature  of  the  order  to  which  it  is  attached  rests 
on  it,  and,  continuing  along  the  flank  of  the  building,  is  re- 
ceived by  a similar  combination  at  the  other  end.  These, 
it  may  be  remarked,  were  never  diminished  or  fluted. 


36 


A R C II I TEC  T U 11  E. 


Grecian  Being  projections  from  the  ends  of  walls,  they  could  not 
Ionic.  ije  diminished  without  involving  an  absurdity ; and  fluting 
on  a straight  surface  must  be  productive  of  monotony,  as 
the  flutes  can  only  project  a series  of  equal  and  parallel 
shadow's.  Not  so,  however,  with  columns,  on  whose  ro- 
tund surface  fluting  produces  a beautiful  variety  of  light 
and  shade  in  all  their  gradations,  which  it  could  not  pos- 
sess without  that  enrichment;  for  on  a plain  column  nei- 
ther are  the  lights  so  bright  nor  the  shadows  so  dark  as 
in  the  former  case,  nor  are  they  so  finely  diffused  over  the 
whole  surface  in  the  one  as  in  the  other. 

In  the  only  example  which  occurs  in  the  ancient  archi- 
tectural remains  of  attached  Doric  columns,  that  of  the 
pseudo-peripteral  temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  at  Agrigen- 
tum,  the  stylobate  is  peculiarly  arranged.  The  upper  gradus 
is  grooved,  and  detailed  round  the  columns  and  along  the 
walls  between  them ; and  a congeries  of  vertically  arranged 
mouldings  and  fillets  rests  on  it,  and  receives  the  base  of 
the  column. 

Such  are  the  materials  of  which  the  Greeks  composed 
their  beautiful  temples,  the  manner  of  whose  composition 
has  been  already  described.  Of  their  effect,  however,  it  is 
impossible  to  form  a competent  idea  without  seeing  one. 
And  whence,  it  may  be  asked,  does  their  interest  arise  ? 

PI.  LIV.  From  their  simplicity  and  harmony; — simplicity,  in  the 
long  unbroken  lines  which  bound  their  forms,  and  the 
breadth  and  boldness  of  every  part ; such  as  the  lines  of 
the  entablature  and  stylobate,  the  breadth  of  the  corona, 
of  the  architrave,  of  the  abaci,  of  the  capitals,  and  of  their 
ovalos  also ; in  the  defined  form  of  the  columns,  and  the 
breadth  of  the  members  of  the  stylobate  ; — harmony,  in 
the  evident  fitness  of  every  part  to  all  the  rest.  The  en- 
tablature, though  massive,  is  fully  upborne  by  the  columns, 
whose  spreading  abaci  receive  it,  and  transmit  the  weight 
downwards  by  the  shafts,  which  rest  on  a horizontal  and 
spreading  basement ; the  magnitude  of  every  part,  as  we 
have  before  had  occasion  to  remark,  being  determined  by 
the  capacity  of  the  sustaining  power.  Besides  graceful 
and  elegant  outline,  and  simple  and  harmonious  forms, 
these  structures  possess  a bewitching  variety  of  light  and 
shade,  arising  from  the  judicious  contour  and  arrange- 
ment of  mouldings,  every  one  of  which  is  rendered  effec- 
tive,— by  the  fluting  of  the  columns  and  the  peculiar  form 
of  the  columnar  capital,  whose  broad,  square  abacus  pro- 
jects a deep  shadow  on  the  bold  ovalo,  which  mingles  it 
with  reflections,  and  produces  on  itself  almost  every  va- 
riety. The  play  of  light  and  shade,  again,  about  the  in- 
sulated columns,  is  strongly  relieved  and  corrected  by 
the  deep  shadows  on  the  walls  behind  them;  and  in  the 
fronts,  where  the  inner  columns  appear,  the  effect  is  en- 
chanting. For  all  the  highest  effects  which  architecture 
is  capable  of  producing,  a Greek  peripteral  temple  of  the 
Doric  order  is  perhaps  unrivalled. 

Of  the  Grecian  Ionic. 

Not  less  Hellenic  in  its  detail  than  the  national  Doric 
is  the  graceful  and  elegant  style  called  the  Ionian,  whose 
proportions  and  peculiarities  we  take  from  the  perfect  ex- 
amples of  the  Athenian  Acropolis. 

PI.  LIX.  This  order  may  also  be  considered  in  three  similar  parts, 
Stylobate,  Column,  and  Entablature.  The  stylobate  is  in 
three  receding  equal  courses  or  steps,  whose  total  height 
is  from  four  fifths  of  to  a whole  diameter.  The  column, 
consisting  of  base,  shaft,  and  capital,  is  rather  more  than 
nine  diameters  in  height,  of  which  the  base  is  two  fifths  of 
a diameter;  and  the  capital,  including  the  hypotrachelium, 
is  in  one  case  three  fourths,  and  in  the  other  seven  eighths 
of  a diameter  high.  The  base  consists  of  a congeries  of 
mouldings,  extending  gradually  from  one  diameter  and  a 
third  to  a diameter  and  a half,  and  its  height  is  in  three 


nearly  equal  parts,  with  two  equal  fillets  separating  them.  Grecian 
The  lowest,  a torus,  rests  on  the  top  of  the  stylobate  or  ^ Ionic, 
floor  of  the  portico,  a fillet  divides  that  from  a scotia,  a — 
second  fillet  intervenes  that  and  a second  torus,  and  a 
third  fillet  bases  the  apophyge  or  escape  of  the  shaft. 

The  upper  torus  of  the  base  is,  in  one  example,  fillet-fluted 
horizontally;  and,  in  the  other,  the  same  member  is  en- 
riched with  the  guilochos.  The  shaft  diminishes  with  en- 
tasis from  its  lower  or  whole  diameter,  to  above  five  sixths 
of  it  immediately  under  the  hypotrachelium.  It  is  fluted 
with  twenty-four  flutes  and  alternating  fillets,  which  fol- 
low the  diminution  and  entasis  of  the  column.  The  flutes 
in  plan  are  nearly  semiellipses,  and  they  finish  at  both 
ends  with  the  same  curve : a fillet  is  in  thickness  nearly 
one  fourth  the  width  of  a flute.  The  difference  in  the 
height  of  the  capital  is  in  the  length  of  the  necking, 
which  in  one  case  is  separated  from  the  head  of  the  shaft 
by  a carved  bead,  and  in  the  other  by  a plain  fillet. 

Above  the  necking,  a height  of  about  one  third  of  a dia- 
meter is  occupied  by  a congeries  of  three  spreading  or 
corbelling  mouldings,  a bead,  an  ovalo,  and  a torus,  which 
are  all  appropriately  carved.  On  these  rest  the  parallelo- 
gramic  block,  on  whose  faces  are  the  volutes,  and  whose 
ends  are  concaved  into  what  is  technically  termed  a bol- 
ster, to  connect  them.  This  part  is  about  one  third  of  a 
diameter  in  height,  and  includes  a rectilinear  abacus, 
whose  edges  are  moulded  to  an  ovalo,  and  carved  with 
the  egg  and  tongue  ornament.  The  volutes  are  three 
fifths  of  a diameter  in  depth,  and  extend  in  front  to 
one  diameter  and  a half ; and  they  are  nearly  a semidia- 
meter apart.  The  flowing  lines  which  connect  the  volutes 
can  only  be  understood  by  reference  to  the  example.  The  Fig.  5. 
bolsters  are  fluted  vertically,  with  alternate  fillets,  on  Fig.  12. 
which  are  carved  beads.  An  ornament  composed  of  the 
honeysuckle  with  tendrils  encircles  the  necking  of  the 
column.  It  must  be  remarked,  that  as  the  capitals  are 
parallelogramic,  and  present  but  two  similar  fronts,  to  pre- 
serve the  appearance  of  volutes  externally  on  all  sides, 
the  capitals  of  those  columns  which  occupy  the  external 
angles  of  porticoes  are  differently  arranged.  The  outer  Fig.  13. 
volute  is  bent  out  at  an  angle  of  45°,  and  volutes  are  put 
on  the  end  or  side-front  of  the  capital  also,  the  outer  one 
being  the  other  side  of  the  angular,  volute  of  the  front. 

To  suit  the  angle  internally,  the  two  volutes  of  the  inner 
face  are  placed  at  right  angles  to  each  other : this  is, 
however,  at  best  but  an  awkward  expedient,  and  need 
not  be  employed  when  a portico  projects  only  one  inter- 
columniation. 

The  entablature,  which  is  rather  more  than  two  diame-  Fig.  5 
ters  in  height,  is  also  divided  into  three  parts — architrave, 
frieze,  and  cornice — which  may  be  proportioned  by  divid- 
ing the  whole  height  into  five  parts,  four  of  which,  as  in 
the  Doric,  may  be  again  equally  divided  between  the  ar- 
chitrave and  frieze.  The  cornice,  however,  in  the  exam- 
ples referred  to,  does  not  occupy  one  fifth  of  the  entabla- 
ture; but  if  it  had  a fillet  over  the  upper  moulding,  which 
it  appears  to  want,  that  would  be  just  its  proportion.  If 
the  architrave  be  divided  into  nine  parts,  seven  of  them 
may  be  given  to  three  equal  fascias,  which  slightly  pro- 
ject the  one  before  the  other ; the  first  or  lowest,  which 
is  vertical  to  the  circumferential  line  of  the  inferior  dia- 
meter, being  covered  by  the  second,  and  the  second  by 
the  third.  The  remaining  two  ninths  form  a band  of 
mouldings  corbelling  a broad  fillet,  which  separates  the 
architrave  from  the  frieze : these  mouldings  are  enriched. 

The  frieze,  which  does  not  project  quite  so  much  as  the 
lowest  fascia  of  the  architrave,  is,  in  the  Athenian  exam- 
ples, quite  plain  ; but  it  may  be  enriched  with  foliage,  or 
made  the  receptacle  of  sculpture  in  low  relief.  The  cor- 
nice projects  from  the  face  of  the  frieze  rather  more  than 


ARCHITECTURE. 


37 


Grecian  as  much  as  its  whole  height,  and  is  composed  of  bed 
Ionic,  mouldings,  a corona,  and  crown  mouldings.  The  first  are 
a carvecj  beati  and  carved  cyma-reversa,  the  former  of 
which  only  occupies  a portion  of  the  height  of  the  cor- 
nice, as  the  planceer  is  cut  up  inwards  in  the  manner  re- 
presented by  dotted  lines  in  the  example,  to  a sufficient 
depth  for  it ; the  crown  mouldings,  which  consist  of  a 
carved  ovalo  above  a carved  bead,  are  rather  more  than 
one  fourth  of  the  whole  cornice;  and  the  corona  occupies 
the  rest  of  its  height,  except  that  small  portion  given  to 
the  bead  of  the  bed  mould.  A fillet  above  the  crown 
mouldings,  as  already  intimated,  is  certainly  necessary  to 
complete  the  order  and  receive  the  antefixae,  as  described 
in  the  Doric,  for  the  flank  of  a temple. 

Fig.  1 & 2.  The  pediments  in  the  Ionic  examples  are  rather  flatter 
than  in  the  Doric,  the  angle  made  by  the  covering  cor- 
nice with  the  base  being,  in  a hexastyle,  less  than  14°. 
A vertical  fillet,  with  a small  moulding,  equal  in  depth  to 
the  two  crown  mouldings  of  the  cornice,  covers  them  in 
the  pediment,  in  the  place  of  the  cyma-recta  or  ovalo 
used  in  the  Doric  order.  The  intercolumniation  used  in 
these  examples  is,  in  the  one  two  diameters,  and  in  the 
other  three  diameters  and  one  sixth. 

A much  greater  variety  is  found  in  the  composition  of 
the  Ionic  than  of  the  Doric  order.  Indeed  the  examples 
of  the  Athenian  Acropolis  alone  have  neckings ; in  all 
the  others  the  shaft  runs  up  to  the  corbelled  mouldings, 
which  bed  the  block  of  the  volutes,  and  the  flutes  finish 
under  them.  Neither  have  they  a torus  in  that  congeries, 
but  a bead  and  ovalo  alone,  which  latter  makes  an  incon- 
venient projection  under  the  pendent  lines  that  connect 
the  volutes,  and  thus  the  capital  is  not  more  than  half  a 
diameter  in  height. 

The  Ionian  or  Asiatic  examples  of  this  order  are  far 
inferior  to  those  we  have  referred  to.  Their  bases  are  dif- 
ferently, and  certainly  less  elegantly  composed.  They 
are  without  hypotrachelia,  as  may  have  been  inferred ; 
they  want  the  torus  in  the  capital ; and,  in  most  cases,  in- 
stead of  flowing,  pendent  lines,  they  have  straight  lines 
connecting  the  volutes.  Their  entablatures  are  not  so 
finely  proportioned,  nor  so  delicately  executed.  The  coro- 
nas want  breadth,  and  the  bed  moulds  of  the  cornice  are 
as  much  too  heavy  as  those  of  Athens  are  perhaps  too 
light.  Indeed,  upon  the  whole,  they  have  more  of  the 
grossness  of  Roman  architecture  than  of  the  delicacy  and 
elegance  of  Grecian,  though  the  Ionian  examples  are 
supposed  to  be  the  models  of  those  of  Athens. 

Fig.  10.  The  width  of  the  ante  of  the  Ionic  order  is  determin- 
ed, as  in  the  Doric,  by  the  soffit  of  the  entablature;  and 
it  will,  of  course,  be  exactly  the  same  as,  or  rather  less 
than,  the  inferior  diameter  of  the  column.  It  is  slightly 
raised,  too,  from  the  face  of  the  wall  at  the  ends  of  which 
it  stands.  The  base  of  the  ante  is,  in  one  of  the  two  ex- 
< amples  of  the  Acropolis,  a little  deeper  than  that  of  the 
column,  having  a small  projecting  moulding  between  the 
lower  torus  and  the  floor ; and  the  lower  torus  itself  is 
reeded.  In  the  other  example  there  is  no  difference  in  the 
form  and  proportion  of  the  ante  and  columnar  bases,  but 
both  the  tori  are  fluted  horizontally,  with  beaded  fillets 
between  the  flutes.  The  ante  cap  consists  of  a congeries 
of  corbelling  mouldings,  nearly  one  third  of  a diameter  in 
height.  It  is  divided  into  three  nearly  equal  parts,  the 
lowest  of  which  is  composed  of  a bead  and  an  ovalo  ; the 
second  of  another  bead  and  a cyma-reversa,  all  carved ; 
and  the  third  of  a plain  flat  cavetto,  with  a narrow  fillet 
and  small  crowning  cyma-reversa,  forming  an  abacus.  The 
necking  is  like  that  of  the  capital,  and  is  enriched  in  the 

Fig-  3.  same  manner.  The  cap  or  cornice  thus  formed  breaks 
round  the  projection  of  the  ante,  and  is  continued  along 
the  wall  under  the  entablature  the  whole  length  of  the 


building,  or  till  it  is  impeded  by  some  other  construction, 
and  the  base  is  continued  in  like  manner. 

Attached  columns  have  the  voluted  capital,  but  their 
base  is  that  of  the  ante;  and  it  is  detailed  round  them  and 
along  the  wall  to  which  they  belong,  as  with  the  ante.  It 
must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  attached  columns 
in  the  triple  temple  are  about  one  ninth  less  in  diameter 
than  those  which  are  insulated,  though  they  are  similar  in 
other  respects,  and  have  the  same  entablature. 

The  back  of  the  triple  temple,  between  the  attached 
columns,  presents  the  only  example  in  Greek  architec- 
ture of  windows.  These  are  rather  more  than  twice  their 
width  in  height,  and  are  narrower  at  the  top  than  at  the 
bottom.  They  rest  on  a broad,  bold  sill,  which  is  equal  in 
depth  to  two  sixths  of  the  opening,  and  are  surround- 
ed externally  by  a congeries  of  mouldings,  which,  with  a 
plain  fascia,  constitute  an  architrave.  This  architrave  is 
one  fourth  the  opening  in  width;  it  diminishes  with  the 
window,  and  in  the  same  proportion,  and  is  returned  above 
in  two  knees,  which  are  made  vertical  to  its  extreme  point 
at  the  base. 


Grecian 

Corinthian, 


Fig.  2, 


Of  the  Grecian  Corinthian. 

The  importance  which  the  Greeks  attached  to  a gradu-Pl-  I.X. 
ated  stylobate,  and  the  necessity  of  giving  it  a relevant  Fig-  *- 
proportion  in  a columnar  ordinance,  are  evinced  in  the 
only  example  of  this  order  which  remains  to  us  of  Gre- 
cian origin.  Unlike  the  Doric  and  Ionic  in  its  applica- 
tion, which  is  in  temples  of  rectangular  form,  whose  whole 
height  they  occupy,  this  is  attached  to  a small  circular 
structure,  resting  on  a lofty  square  basement ; and  yet, 
like  those  orders,  it  has  a stylobate  in  receding  courses, 
and  in  plan,  too,  corresponding  with  the  arrangement  ofFig.  2. 
the  columns,  and  not  with  that  of  the  substructure  ; thus 
offering  further  proof  that  the  stylobate  was  considered  a 
part  of  the  columnar  ordinance.  Thus  the  Corinthian  Fig.  1 & 3. 
order  also  consists  of  stylobate,  column,  and  entablature. 

The  stylobate  is  rather  more  than  a diameter  in  height, 
and  is  divided  into  three  parts,  but  not  equally,  in  con- 
sequence, it  is  probable,  of  the  peculiar  position  of  the 
ordinance.  The  two  lower  grades  have  vertical  faces,  are  of 
equal  depth,  and  they  occupy  three  fourths  of  the  whole 
height ; the  third  step  occupies  the  remaining  one  fourth, 
and  is  moulded  on  the  edge,  in  exquisite  harmony  with  the 
more  ornate  style,  of  which  it  forms  a part.  Like  the 
column  of  the  Ionic  order,  that  of  the  Corinthian  consists 
of  base,  shaft,  and  capital:  it  is  ten  diameters  in  height. 

The  base  is  rather  more  than  one  third  of  a diameter  high, 
and  is  composed  of  a torus  and  fillet,  which  are  nearly 
two  fifths  of  its  whole  height ; a scotia  and  another  si- 
milar fillet,  rather  less  than  the  former ; and  a second 
torus  or  reversed  ovalo,  one  fifth  the  height  of  the  base, 
on  which  rests  a third  fillet  basing  the  apophyge  of  the 
shaft.  The  extent  or  diameter  of  the  base,  at  the  lower 
torus,  is  rather  more  than  one  diameter  and  a half.  The 
shaft  diminishes  with  entasis  to  five  sixths  of  its  diameter 
at  the  hypotrachelium,  and,  like  that  of  the  Ionic  order,  has 
twenty-four  flutes  and  fillets.  The  flutes  are  semiellipses,  so 
deep  as  nearly  to  approach  semicircles  : they  finish  in  the 
apophyge  at  the  foot  of  the  shaft,  in  the  same  manner  and 
form ; and  at  the  head  they  terminate  in  leaves,  to  which 
the  fillets  are  stalks.  The  fillets  are  rather  more  than  one 
fourth  the  width  of  the  flutes.  The  hypotrachelium  is  a 
simple  channel  or  groove  immediately  under  the  capital. 

The  capital  itself  is  a diameter  and  rather  more  than  one 
third  in  height : its  core  is  a perfect  cylinder,  in  bulk  rather 
less  than  the  superior  diameter  of  the  shaft.  This  is  band- 
ed by  a row  of  water  leaves,  whose  profile  is  a flat  cavetto, 
one  sixth  of  the  whole  height,  and  another  of  leaves  of  the 
acanthus,  with  flowered  buttonsattachingthem  to  the  cylin- 


38  ARCHITEC  T UUE. 


Grecian  der.  These  latter  have  the  contour  of  a cyma-recta,  and 

Corinthian. are  twice  the  height  of  the  last,  or  one  third  of  the  whole 
capital.  Rather  more  than  another  third  is  occupied  by 
helices  and  tendrils,  which  latter  support  a honeysuckle 
against  the  middle  of  the  abacus;  and  the  abacus  itself, 
resting  on  and  covering  the  whole  mass,  is  but  little  more 
than  one  seventh  of  the  whole  height.  This  member  in 
plan  can  only  be  described  as  a square  whose  angles  are 
cut  off  at  45°,  and  whose  sides  are  deeply  concaved.  In 
profile  it  consists  of  a narrow  fillet,  an  elliptical  cavetto  or 
reversed  scotia,  and  another  fillet  surmounted  by  a small 
ovalo,  or  rather  a moulding  whose  profile  is  the  quadrant 
of  an  ellipsis. 

The  entablature  of  this  order  is  two  diameters  and  two 
sevenths  in  height.  It  also  consists  of  architrave,  frieze, 
and  cornice,  of  which  the  first  occupies  one  tenth  more 
than  a third,  the  second  rather  more  than  as  much  less 
than  that  proportion,  and  the  cornice  is  so  much  more 
again  above  one  third.  The  architrave  is  divided,  like 
that  of  the  Ionic  order,  into  three  equal  fascias,  which 
occupy  all  but  one  sixth  of  its  whole  height,  and  that  is 
given  to  a corbelled  band,  consisting  of  a bead,  cyma-re- 
versa,  and  fillet,  separating  the  two  members  of  the  en- 
tablature. The  fascias  of  the  architrave,  it  must  be  re- 
marked, are  not  perpendicular,  but  incline  inwards,  so 
that  their  lower  angles  are  all  in  the  same  vertical  line, 
which  impends  the  surface  of  the  shaft  about  one  third  of 
its  height  from  the  base.  The  frieze  is  one  plain  band, 
slightly  inclining  inwards,  like  the  fascias  of  the  archi- 
trave, and  slightly  projected  beyond  them : in  this  ex- 
ample it  is  enriched  with  sculptures.  The  cornice  con- 
sists of  a deep  congeries  of  bed  mouldings,  and  a corona, 
with  the  accustomed  small  crown  mouldings  and  fillet.  Its 
extreme  projection  is  nearly  equal  to  its  whole  height : of 
this  the  bed-mouldings  project  about  two  fifths.  As  in 
the  Ionic  cornice,  additional  height  is  given  to  the  bed- 
moulds,  by  undercutting  the  planceer.  In  this  case,  indeed, 
it  is  done  to  nearly  one  fourth  the  height  of  the  corona. 
One  sixth  the  height  of  the  cornice  is  given  to  a flat  bead 
and  an  ovalo,  which  are  immediately  above  the  frieze, 
and  which  base  a broad  dentilled  member  that  occupies 
more  than  one  fourth  of  the  whole  cornice.  This  is  sur- 
mounted by  a listel  or  broad  fillet,  above  which  is  a cyma- 
recta,  whose  narrow  fillet  nearly  reaches  the  horizontal 
plane  of  the  planceer,  and  separates  it  from  a cyma-reversa 
that  beds  the  superimposed  projecting  corona.  This  lat- 
ter is  only  three  eighths  of  the  whole  cornice,  and  nearly 
one  of  the  three  is  given  to  the  ovalo  and  fillet,  the  bed- 
moulds  alone  occupying  five  eighths.  The  cornice  is  sur- 
mounted by  a cut  fascia  supporting  honeysuckle  antefixse, 
which  may  indeed  be  taken  as  a part  of  the  order,  as  the 
solitary  example  in  question  presents  it.  This,  however, 
we  know,  from  the  Doric  and  Ionic  structures,  to  be 
a modification  of  the  flank  ornament  of  temples ; and  we 
may  suppose  from  analogy,  that  if  used  in  a portico  the 
cornice  of  this  order  would  have  a cyma-recta  to  ciown 
it  on  the  inclined  side  of  the  pediment.  The  intercolum- 
niation  of  this  example  is  two  diameters  and  one  third. 

Of  Corinthian  antae  we  have  no  examples,  nor  indeed 
have  we  of  insulated  columns  ; but  as  we  find  in  the  Ionic 
examples  quoted,  that  the  attached  columns  are  less  in 
proportion  to  the  entablature  than  those  which  are  insu- 
lated, we  may  conclude  that  it  would  be  the  same  with  this ; 
thus  reducing  the  entablature  to  two  diameters,  the  ordi- 
nary average  of  that  part  in  Greek  columnar  architecture. 

Of  the  Caryatides , or  Caryatic  Order. 

Fig.  4,  C & The  solecism  in  architecture  of  which  we  have  now  to 
speak  has  but  the  one  existing  example  in  the  works  of 
the  Greeks,  to  which  we  have  already  referred.  It  is  the 


third  portion  of  the  triple  temple  in  the  Athenian  Aero-  Carvatic 
polis,  and  is  a projection  from  the  flank  of  the  principal  Order. 
Ionic  structure,  formed  by  a stereobatic  dado  raised  on 
the  stylobate  and  antae-base  mouldings  of  it,  with  a sur- 
base  consisting  of  a carved  bead  and  carved  ovalo  corbel- 
ling a broad  lintel,  with  a narrow  projecting  fillet  above  it. 

On  this  rests  a square  plinth,  which  bases  a draped  female 
figure,  on  the  head  of  which  there  is  imposed  a circular 
moulded  block,  with  a deep  rectangular  abacus,  two  thirds 
of  whose  face  is  vertical,  and  the  other  third  is  a cavetto, 
fillet,  and  small  cyma-reversa.  The  stereobate,  including 
the  moulded  base  of  the  temple,  is  about  three  fourths 
the  height  of  the  statue-pillar  with  its  base  and  capital. 

The  entablature  is  rather  less  than  two  fifths  of  the  same, 
but  it  consists  of  architrave  and  cornice  alone,  between 
which  parts  the  height  is  nearly  equally  divided.  Rather 
more  than  one  fifth  of  the  former  is  given  to  a carved 
bead  and  carved  cyma-reversa,  with  the  flat,  plain  cavetto 
and  fillet  which  they  corbel ; the  other  four  fifths  are  di- 
vided nearly  equally  into  three  fascias,  of  which  the  third 
or  upper  one  has  a fraction  more  than  the  other  two,  and 
is  studded  with  plain  circular  tablets,  whose  diameter  is 
five  sixths  of  its  depth.  The  cornice  consists  of  bed- 
mouldings,  corona,  and  crown  mouldings.  Two  fifths  of  its 
whole  height  is  given  to  the  bed-mould,  to  which  one 
seventh  of  that  may  be  added  for  the  portion  cut  up  in 
the  planceer.  Half  that  increased  height  is  occupied  by  a 
dentilled  member,  and  the  other  half  by  a broad  plain 
fillet,  a carved  bead,  carved  cyma-reversa,  and  a narrow 
fillet  above  it.  The  remaining  three  fifths  of  the  whole 
cornice  being  again  divided  into  five  parts,  rather  less  than 
two  of  them  is  given  to  the  corona ; a little  more  than  one 
to  a plain  cyma-reversa  and  fillet,  of  which  the  latter  is 
the  wider;  and  of  the  rest  a carved  ovalo  occupies  five 
sevenths,  and  a listel  or  crowning  fillet,  with  a carved  bead 
on  it,  the  other  two.  A pier,  pilaster,  or  antse,  projects 
from  the  wall  of  the  greater  temple,  and  receives  the  end 
of  the  entablature  behind  the  inner  figure ; for  the  projec- 
tion is  of  two  statues  and  their  interspaces.  It  does  not, 
however,  rest  on  the  stereobate,  but  runs  down  to  the  base- 
mouldings  of  the  temple,  the  dado  and  surbase  abutting 
against  it.  The  antse  is  capped  by  a congeries  of  carved 
mouldings,  which  support  a narrow  cavetto  and  fillet ; the 
height  of  the  cap  is  half  the  diameter  of  the  antse.  There 
is  also  a hypotrachelium,  consisting  of  a carved  bead  and 
the  honeysuckle  ornament,  occupying  about  one  third  of 
a diameter  in  height.  This  Caryatidean  portico  displays 
very  clearly  the  arrangement  of  the  ceiling,  with  its  coffers 
or  cassoons.  Internally  the  architrave  is  plain  two  thirds 
of  its  height ; of  the  remaining  third  rather  more  than  one 
half  is  a plain,  slightly  projected  fascia;  and  the  other  is 
occupied  by  a carved  bead  and  ovalo.  In  the  absence  of 
a frieze,  the  ceiling  rests  on  this,  and  is  divided  by  carv- 
ed beads  into  panels,  which  are  deeply  coffered,  and  dimi- 
nished by  three  horizontal  moulded  fascias. 

Of  Grecian  Mouldings  and  Ornament. 

Greek  architecture  is  distinguished  for  nothing  more  PI-  LX] 
than  for  the  grace  and  beauty  of  its  mouldings ; and  it 
may  be  remarked  of  them  generally,  that  they  are  eccen- 
tric, and  not  regular  curves.  They  must  be  drawn,  for 
they  cannot  be  described  or  struck ; so  that  though  they 
be  called  circular,  or  elliptical,  it  is  seldom  that  they  are 
really  so  : not  but  that  they  may  be,  but,  if  they  are,  it  is 
evidently  the  result  of  chance,  and  not  of  design.  Hence 
all  attempts  to  give  rules  for  striking  mouldings  are  worse 
than  useless,  for  they  are  injurious  : the  hand  alone,  direct- 
ed by  good  taste,  can  adapt  them  to  their  purpose,  and 
give  them  the  spirit  and  feeling  which  renders  them  effec- 
tive and  pleasing. 


ARCHITECTU 11  E.  39 


Grecian  The  leading  outline  of  Greek  moulding  is  the  grace- 
Mouldings.  fully  flowing  cyma.  This  will  indeed  be  found  to  enter 
into  the  composition  of  almost  every  thing  that  diverges 
from  a right  line  ; and  even  combinations  of  mouldings  are 
frequently  made  with  this  tendency.  It  is  concave  above 
and  convex  below,  or  the  reverse  ; and  though  a long  and 
but  slightly  fleeted  line  connect  the  two  ends,  they  will 
always  be  found  to  correspond  ; that  is,  the  convexity 
and  the  concavity  will  be  in  exactly  the  same  curve,  so 
that  if  the  moulded  surface  were  reversed,  and  the  one 
made  to  assume  the  place,  it  would  also  have  the  ap- 
pearance, of  the  other,  and  the  effect  would  be  the  same. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  Hogarthian  line  of  beauty ; and  it  is  not 
a little  singular  that  Hogarth,  in  his  well-known  Analysis 
of  Beauty , although  he  did  not  know,  and  indeed  could 
not  have  known,  the  contours  of  Greek  architectural 
mouldings,  has  given  the  principle  of  them,  and,  under 
his  line  of  beauty,  has  described  many  of  the  finest  Greek 
forms.  The  Roman  and  Italian  mouldings  were  called 
Greek  in  his  day,  and  he  assumed  them  to  be  so ; but  they 
evidently  do  not  agree  with  his  theory,  whereas,  in  prin- 
ciple, the  now  well-known  Greek  forms  do  most  com- 
pletely. 

The  cyma-recta  is  generally  found  to  be  more  upright 
and  less  deeply  fleeted  than  the  cyma-reversa ; it  is  al- 
most always  the  profile  of  enrichments  on  flat  surfaces,  of 
foliage,  of  the  covering  moulding  of  pediments,  of  the  un- 
dercut or  hooked  mouldings  in  antae-caps,  the  overhang- 
ing not  affecting  the  general  principle  ; and  it  pervades, 
as  we  have  said,  fleeted  architectural  lines  generally, 
whether  horizontal  or  vertical.  The  cyma-reversa  has  all 
the  variety  of  inflection  that  its  opposite  possesses,  but 
the  line  connecting  its  two  ends  is,  for  the  most-  part, 
more  horizontal,  and  its  curves  are  deeper.  It  pervades 
many  architectural  combinations,  but  is  most  singularly 
evinced  in  the  composition  of  the  Greek  Doric  capital, 
PI.  LVII.  which  is  a perfect  cyma-reversa,  with  the  ends  slightly 
& LVIII.  but  sharply  fleeted,  as  it  flows  out  of  the  shaft  below,  and 
Fig.  6 & 7-  turns 

in  under  the  abacus  above.  The  obviousness  of  the 
former  is  prevented  by  the  annulets  which  divide  the 
cyma  into  an  ovalo  and  a cavetto,  but  the  principle  is 
PI.  I.IX.  clear.1 *  The  cyma  is  the  governing  outline  in  the  con- 
Fig.  5.  geries  of  mouldings  in  bases  also,  as  may  be  noticed  in 
^ie  Ionic  and  Corinthian  examples  quoted  and  referred  to. 

' ‘ An  ovalo  is  but  the  upper  half  of  a cyma-reversa,  even 
when  it  is  used  as  a distinct  moulding,  and  unconnected 
PL  LX I.  with  the  waving  form.  Its  name  expresses  its  apparent 
rather  than  its  real  tendency ; for  its  contour  is  not  that 
of  an  egg  in  any  section,  though  the  ornament  which  is 
carved  on  it,  when  used  as  a running  moulding,  is  formed 
like  an  egg ; and  from  that  it  was  named. 

The  upper  torus  of  a base  forms,  with  the  escape  or 
apophyge  of  the  shaft,  a perfect  cyma,  and  the  scotia  and 
, lower  torus  do  the  same ; so  that  the  torus  and  scotia 
are  referable  to  the  same  principle  when  in  composition, 
and  they  are  not  found  together  except  in  the  combina- 
tion referred  to. 

The  bead  is  an  independent  moulding,  varying  in  con- 
tour ; but  it  is  generally  the  larger  segment  of  a circle. 
It  is  used,  however,  sometimes  to  mask  the  waving  form, 
and  sometimes  to  separate  it. 

The  cavetto,  or  simple  hollow,  is  part  of  a cyma  also,  as 
we  have  shown ; but  it  is  also  applied  independently,  to 
obviate  a sharp  angle,  or  to  take  from  the  formality  of  a 
vertical  line,  as  in  the  abaci  of  Ionic  antae-caps.  Its  form, 


nevertheless,  is  not  the  segment  of  a circle,  for  the  upper  Grecian 
part  of  a cavetto  is  the  most  fleeted,  and  it  falls  below  Mouldings, 
almost  into  a straight  line. 

There  is  a hooked  moulding  common  in  Greek  archi-Pl.  LVII. 
tecture,  particularly  in  the  Doric  antae-caps,  which  is  Fig- 5&  11. 
technically  called  the  hawk’s-beak.  It  is  a combination  ofpj  Lym 
curves  which  cannot  be  described  in  words;  but  it  has pj’  5&10.' 
been  already  referred  to  in  speaking  of  the  cyma-recta, 
which  is  brought  into  its  composition. 

The  cyma-recta  is  never  found  carved,  or  sunk  within  PL  LXI. 
itself;  but  it  sometimes  has  the  honeysuckle,  or  other 
ornament  of  the  kind,  wrought  on  it  in  relief,  particularly 
when  used  as  the  covering  moulding — the  cymatium — of 
a pediment.  The  enrichment  of  the  cyma-reversa  consists 
of  a contrasted  repetition  of  its  own  contour  meeting  in  a 
broad  point  below,  and  joining  by  a circular  line  above, 
and  making  a sort  of  tongued  or  leafed  ornament,  whose 
surface  is  inflected  horizontally  also.  Between  the  leaves 
a dart-formed  tongue  is  wrought,  extending  from  the  cir- 
cular flexure  above  to  the  bottom  of  the  moulding,  whose 
contour  it  takes  in  front  alone.  As  this  would  not  mitre 
or  join  well  on  the  angles  of  the  cyma,  a honeysuckle  is 
gracefully  introduced  in  the  manner,  shown  in  the  ex- 
ample. This  enrichment  is  not  wrought  in  relief  on  the 
moulding,  but  is  carved  into  it,  so  that  the  surfaces  of 
the  parts  of  the  ornament  alone  retain  the  full  outline  of 
the  cyma.  The  ovalo  is  enriched  with  what  is  called  the 
egg  and  dart  ornament.  This  will  be  best  understood  by 
reference  to  the  example.  Its  angles  also  are  made  with 
a honeysuckle,  and  the  inflections  are  made  in  the  mould- 
ing itself.  The  torus  is  sometimes  enriched  with  the  in- 
terlaced ornament  called  the  guilochos:  this  too  is  cut 
into  the  moulding  itself.  We  have  no  Greek  example  of 
an  enriched  scotia,  and  from  its  form  and  position,  which, 
to  be  effective,  must  be  below  the  eye,  it  hardly  seems 
susceptible  of  ornament  which  could  operate  beneficially. 

The  bead  is  carved  in  spheres  or  slightly  prolate  sphe- 
roids, with  two  thin  rings  or  buttons,  dilated  at  their 
axes,  placed  vertically  between  them.  A cavetto  is  not 
enriched  at  all,  nor  is  the  hawk’s  beak,  except  by  paint- 
ing, which  does  not  appear  to  have  been  an  uncommon 
mode  of  enriching  mouldings  among  the  Greeks;  that 
is,  the  ornament  was  painted  on  the  moulded  surface  in- 
stead of  being  carved  into  it.  Fascias  are  also  found  en- 
riched hy  painted  running  ornaments,  such  as  the  fret  or 
meander,  the  honeysuckle,  and  the  lotus.  Sometimes  plain 
colour  was  given  to  a member,  to  heighten  the  effect  it 
was  intended  to  produce.  Ornaments  were  painted  and 
gilt  on  the  cohered  panels  of  ceilings  too. 

The  few  examples  which  exist  of  sculptured  ornament 
on  straight  surfaces  exhibit  varieties  of  nearly  the  same 
combinations  as  those  last  mentioned, — the  honej'suckle 
with  the  lotus,  and  sometimes  a variety  of  itself  on  scrolls, 
either  throwing  out  tendrils,  or  plain.  This  is  found  on 
the  necking  of  the  Ionic  columns  of  the  Athenian  Acro- 
polis, and  on  those  of  their  antae,  and  continuing  along 
under  the  congeries  of  mouldings,  as  previously  described. 

The  varieties  of  foliage  used  in  the  enrichments  of  Greek 
architecture  are  few,  and  will  be  found  generally  exem- 
plified in  the  Corinthian  capital  of  the  choragic  monu-PL  LX. 
ment  of  Lysicrates,  and  in  the  rich  acroteral  pedestal  or*1^3’ 
stem  of  the  same  edifice,  than  which  we  possess  no  more  Fig-  1* 
elaborate  specimen  of  foliate  enrichment  of  the  Greek 
school.  There  exist  many  specimens  of  architectural  or- 
nament on  vases  and  fragments,  in  marble  and  terracotta, 


1 The  presence  of  the  cyma  in  the  Doric  capital  was,  we  believe,  first  pointed  out  by  Mr  T.  L.  Donaldson,  in  the  supplementary 

volume  to  the  new  edition  of  Stuart’s  Athens , though  the  true  contour  of  the  cyma  itself  appears  to  have  escaped  that  gentleman's 

attention. 


40  A R C H I T 

Roman  in  which  human  figures,  both  male  and  female,  are  com- 
Scructures.  posed,  with  a greater  variety  of  foliage  than  is  generally 
found  in  Greek  architectural  works  ; and  many  of  the 
beautiful  marble  and  bronze  utensils  discovered  in  Her- 
culaneum and  Pompeii  have  enrichments  obviously  of 
Greek  origin,  from  which,  as  well  as  from  the  specimens 
of  ornament  on  positive  architectural  monuments,  we  may 
judge  of  their  productions  generally,  as  well  as  acquire 
or  imbibe  somewhat  of  the  fine  taste  which  originated 
them. 

It  would  be  puerile  to  speculate  on  the  domestic  edi- 
fices of  the  Greeks  any  further  than  we  have  done,  as  we 
possess  no  genuine  data  on  which  to  proceed.  Their  sa- 
cred structures  have  taught  us  their  style  of  architecture; 
but  for  its  application  to  general  purposes  we  have  no  re- 
source but  to  consult  the  Roman  remains  of  the  exhu- 
mated Campanian  cities  and  other  places,  and  gather  from 
analogy  what  Greek  domestic  architecture  was. 

Of  Roman  Structures. 

Temples  With  a treatise  on  Roman  architecture  by  a Roman 
and  other  architect,  in  our  hands,  mere  transcription  would  appear 

r’? ic  to  be  all  that  is  necessary  in  writing  on  the  subject.  But 
builaincrs.  j . o 

a ' finding  that  author  and  existing  specimens  at  variance, 

we  cannot  help  determining  in  favour  of  the  superior  au- 
thority of  the  latter,  to  which,  therefore,  we  shall  refer 
to  elucidate  Roman  edifices  and  the  Roman  style,  as  we 
did  to  the  Greek  remains  to  elucidate  the  Grecian. 

Though  far  inferior  in  simplicity  and  harmony  to  the 
columnar  architecture  of  the  Greeks,  that  of  the  Romans, 
whether  derived  from  it  or  not,  is  evidently  of  the  same 
family,  and  is  distinguished  by  boldness  of  execution 
and  elaborate  profusion  of  ornament.  The  tastes  of  the 
two  nations  are  exemplified  in  the  Doric  of  the  former 
PL  LVII.  and  the  Corinthian  of  the  latter ; the  one  a model  of 
& I VIII.  simple  grandeur,  perfect  in  its  peculiar  adaptation,  but  al- 
most inapplicable  to  any  other  purpose ; and  the  other, 
PI.  LXXI.  less  refined,  but  more  ornate,  making  up  in  extrinsic  what 
it  wants  in  intrinsic  beauty — imperfect  in  every  combina- 
tion, but  almost  equally  applicable  to  every  purpose.  As 
in  Greece,  so  also  in  Rome,  the  noblest  specimens  of  co- 
lumnar architecture  are  in  the  temples  of  the  divinity ; 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Romans  were  in  the  habit 
of  constructing  them  peripterally,  as  the  Greeks  so  con- 
stantly did.  There  are  indeed  ruins  which  induce  the 
belief  that  they  at  times  built  dipteral  temples ; but  their 
common  practice  (as  far  as  existing  examples  are  authori- 
ties) was  to  make  them  pseudo-peripteral,  or  apteral  and 
prostylar : of  an  amphiprostyle,  even,  we  have  not  an  ex- 
ample. It  certainly  is  the  custom  to  restore  the  ruined 
temples,  whose  remains  are  a few  columns  only,  as  if  they 
had  been  peripteral;  but  it  isdone  notonly without  sufficient 
authority,  but  against  that  which  the  more  perfect  struc- 
tures present.  The  great  projection,  too,  that  the  Romans 
gave  their  porticoes,  is  evidence  that  they  were  depend- 
ent entirely  on  themselves  for  effect ; for  they  are  gene- 
rally projected  three  columns  and  their  interspaces  be- 
fore the  cella,  which,  however,  has  no  pronaos  with  co- 
lumns in  antis ; nor  does  it  appear  from  existing  remains 
that  the  Romans  were  accustomed  to  use  that  arrange- 
ment. Circular  or  peristylar  temples  are  not  uncommon 
in  Roman  architecture ; and  there  are  temples  to  which  it 
can  hardly  be  supposed  that  columns  were  ever  attached: 
these  are  for  the  most  part  polygonal.  Neither  do  the  Ro- 
mans appear  ever  to  have  constructed  hypasthral  temples 
with  columns  internally,  as  the  Greeks  did.  Indeed  it  is 
a question  whether  all  their  temples  were  not  cleithral ; 
for  it  is  not  generally  admitted  that  the  Pantheon,  which 
is  hypasthral  by  the  open  eye  of  the  dome,  was  originally 
a temple  ; and  where  the  structures  remain  tolerably  per- 


ECTUR  E. 

feet,  the  ceilings  and  roofs  appear  to  have  been  formed  Roman 
by  arching  from  flank  to  flank,  and  thereby  quite  inclos- Structu-es. 
ing  them. 

The  application  of  columns  internally  is  most  strikingly  PI.  LXIV. 
effective  in  the  Pantheon,  where  they  are  arranged  in  Pig- 4 & 5. 
front  of  niches,  or  deep  recesses,  composed  with  antae  to 
carry  a crowning  entablature  round  under  an  attic  on 
which  the  cupola  rests.  No  representation  can  convey 
even  the  most  incompetent  idea  of  the  effect  of  this  ar- 
rangement, to  those  who  cannot  gather  it  from  the  plan. 

A section  presents  only  one  compartment  correctly;  all 
the  rest  must  of  necessity  be  foreshortened.  It  is  far 
otherwise  with  the  temple  of  peace  and  the  hall  of  the 
baths  of  Diocletian,  in  which  columns  stand  before  the 
piers  to  have  the  entablature  broken  over  them.  This,  in- 
deed, was  the  result,  as  we  have  before  intimated,  of  the 
combination  of  columns  with  arches  ; and  it  is  most  clearly 
exemplified  in  those  works  which  most  probably  originat- 
ed the  practice,  and  which  are  next  in  pretence  to  the 
temples : — these  are  the  triumphal  arches. 

The  Romans  had  not  adopted  the  simple  graduated 
stylobate  of  Greek  columnar  architecture  in  their  temples, 
but  made  the  access  to  their  porticoes  in  front  with  thin  Fig.  6, 7,  & 
steps,  and  built  vertical  stereobates  along  the  flanks  for  8. 
the  walls  of  the  cella,  or  as  stylobates,  if  there  were  at- 
tached columns.  In  applying  a columnar  arrangement  to  Fig.  10  & 
the  triumphal  arch,  this  lofty  stylobate  was  taken  also. 1 L 
The  breadth  of  the  opening  prevented  the  columns  from 
being  placed  equidistant;  they  were,  therefore,  coupled, 
the  entablature  was  broken  over  them,  and  necessarily  the 
stylobate  was  cut  through,  leaving  mere  attached  pedes- 
tals to  stilt  the  columns,  so  that  the  whole  ordinance  was 
deprived  of  every  thing  that  could  render  it  as  a composi- 
tion beautiful : its  simplicity  and  harmony  were  entirely 
gone ; and  instead  of  giving  a graceful  character  to  the 
structure,  it  became  a mere  attached  frontispiece,  that 
could  only  deform  it.  As  if  conscious  that  the  Corinthian 
was  too  beautiful  to  maltreat  in  such  a manner,  the  Ro- 
man architects  produced  the  hybrid,  which  has  since  been 
called  the  Composite  order,  to  use  in  these  compositions  : PI.  LXIII. 
in  them,  indeed,  it  is  chiefly  found ; and  if  it  were  not Ex-  2- 
evidently  a mere  deterioration  of  the  Corinthian,  it  might 
with  truth  and  propriety  be  called  the  Roman  order. 

Coupled  columns,  broken  and  recessed  entablatures 
and  pedestals,  and  the  Composite  order,  are  among  the 
greatest  blemishes  in  Roman  architecture ; for  the  mis- 
formed  and  inappropriate  abortions  which  have  obtained 
the  name  of  Ionic  and  Doric,  in  Roman  works,  are  hardly  Ex.  3 & 4, 
to  be  attributed  to  the  school,  but  to  individuals  of  it,  as 
they  are  of  very  infrequent  occurrence,  and  generally  ap- 
pear only  in  works  which  are  otherwise  ungainly.  Such 
are  the  amphitheatres,  whose  elliptical  forms  can  never 
be  graceful,  and  whose  architecture  was  invariably  the 
worst  the  time  produced.  The  immense  structure  in  P1- LXIV. 
Rome,  which,  from  its  magnitude,  has  been  called  the^'S-  *■ 
Colosseum,  bears  in  relief  the  gross  architectural  solecism 
of  columns  in  stories,  which,  moreover,  have  recessed  sty- 
lobates and  immense  intercolumniations,  with  large  arches 
in  them,  which  again  reduce  the  effect  of  the  column  still 
more,  making  the  continuity  of  the  entablatures  themselves 
a fault,  by  their  consequent  infirmity.  The  architectura! 
details  of  this  structure  are  coarse  and  inelegant,  plain 
without  simplicity,  and  laboured  without  elegance.  But 
internally  these  blemishes  disappear,  columns  and  arches 
piled  upon  columns  and  arches  give  way  to  the  long  con- 
tinuous lines  which  graduated  from  the  arena  to  the  gal- 
lery, and  must  have  produced  as  grand  an  effect  as  al- 
most any  object  in  architecture : its  magnitude  and  ruined 
state  produce  the  imposing  effect  so  striking  at  the  pre- 
sent  time ; but  the  mind  can  easily  restore  it,  or  it  may 


ARCHIT 

Homan  be  contemplated  in  miniature  in  the  amphitheatre  at 
Structures.  Verona. 

The  most  perfect  specimens  of  the  Roman  theatre  re- 
maining are  those  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum.  Like 
those  of  the  Greeks,  they,  too,  rest  on  the  side  of  a hill ; 
but  instead  of  being  hewn,  they  are  built  in  it,  as  there 
is  no  rock  out  of  which  they  might  have  been  excavated. 
Their  general  form,  however,  is  very  similar  to  that  of 
the  Greek  theatre,  but  they  received  a greater  degree  of 
architectural  decoration  than  the  latter  was  susceptible  of. 
Of  this  the  theatre  of  Marcellus  in  Rome  is  an  example  ; 
for  though  otherwise  destroyed,  its  external  wall  remains, 
and  presents  columnar  ordinances,  with  intervening  arches 
in  stories,  according  to  the  vicious  and  inelegant  practice 
of  the  Roman  school.  This,  however,  is  on  a plain,  and 
presents  external  walls,  which  other  examples  do  not  so 
completely. 

The  baths  of  the  Romans  were  structures  of  immense 
extent,  and  of  splendid  appearance  internally.  What  their 
exteriors  were  we  have  no  competent  means  of  determin- 
ing ; fragments,  however,  give  us  reason  to  believe,  that 
in  architectural  merit  they  did  not  surpass  the  exteriors 
of  the  amphitheatres.  The  walls  internally  were  covered 
with  stucco,  and  painted  with  foliage,  figures  of  animals, 
and  compositions,  architectural  landscape  or  history : the 
floors  were  of  mosaic,  laid  in  compartments,  and  variously 
ornamented : the  ceilings  were  vaulted  and  stuccoed  like 
the  walls ; sometimes  they  were  enriched  with  coffered 
panels  containing  sculptured  flowers  or  other  architectural 
ornament,  and  sometimes  they  were  merely  painted  with 
what  are  termed  arabesques.  Columnar  ordinances  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  much  used,  and  when  they  were, 
it  was  not  always  with  good  taste,  as  we  have  had  occa- 
sion already  to  remark;  though  the  structure  called  the 
Pantheon,  which,  with  a great  show  of  probability,  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  a saloon  in  the  baths,  perhaps  of 
Agrippa,  on  the  contrary  presents  a beautiful  adaptation 
Fig.  2 & 3.  of  one.  That  the  Pantheon  was  part  of  a more  extended 
edifice,  is  very  clear  from  its  external  form  and  appear- 
ance, which  are  unsightly  in  the  extreme,  presenting  a 
mis-shapen  and  unfinished  mass.  Now,  domed  chambers 
are  very  common  in  the  baths  and  palaces  of  the  Romans. 
They  are  not  only  more  effective  than  rectangular  apart- 
ments, but  were  much  more  convenient  in  the  absence  of 
glass;  for  a small  opening  left  in  the  apex  lights  and  ven- 
tilates the  domed  saloon  most  completely,  whilst  the  rain 
that  could  pass  through  it  was  necessarily  small  in  quantity, 
and  could  be  easily  avoided  by  those  walking  on  the  floor. 
In  rectangular  vaults  this  could  not  be  effected,  so  that 
rooms  of  that  form  depended  on  lateral  openings  for  light 
and  air,  and  were  thereby  exposed  and  uncomfortable. 
Again,  there  is  a rectangular  portico  attached  to  the  Pan- 
theon, having  no  single  feature  in  common  with  it,  the 
former  being  a noble  Corinthian  octaprostyle  of  three  in- 
tercolumniations  projecting,  with  two  others  of  antae  and 
pilasters  behind ; and  the  other  a polygonal,  bulbous  mass 
of  brickwork,  much  loftier  than  the  portico,  having  cor- 
nices and  blocking  courses,  too,  none  of  which  range  with 
the  entablature  or  any  part  of  it.  A conclusive  argument, 
moreover,  against  the  commonly  received  opinion,  that  the 
portico  and  the  circular  temple  are  an  original  composi- 
tion, proving  indeed  that  the  former  was  an  adaptation  of 
what  most  likely  had  previously  existed  elsewhere  in  a 
different  situation,  and  of  course  could  not  be  intended 
for  its  present  adjunct,  is,  that  it  now  fronts  north,  and 
consequently  the  sun  never  shines  full  on  it,  so  that  it  is 
in  fact  always  in  shadow ; and  that  was  never  permitted 
by  the  ancients  in  their  original  compositions  ; for  two 
thirds  of  the  beauty  of  a portico,  consisting  in  the  beauti- 
ful play  and  contrast  of  light  and  shade  it  affords,  are  thus 


ECTURE.  41 

sacrificed.  But  in  an  after-appropriation,  as  we  imagine  in  Roman 
this  case,  it  might  have  been,  and  clearly  was  done ; pro-  Structures, 
bably  through  ignorance,  as  well  as  bad  taste,  in  those  who 
did  it.  If,  then,  the  Pantheon,  whose  diameter  is  nearly 
150  feet,  was  but  an  apartment — suppose  the  grand  saloon 
or  xystum — in  the  baths,  the  whole  structure  must  have 
been  immense ; and  if  its  proportions  and  internal  archi- 
tecture be  taken,  as  they  certainly  may  be,  as  a specimen 
of  the  style  and  manner  of  the  interior  of  the  edifice  gene- 
rally, we  shall  obtain  a very  high  opinion  of  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  Roman  baths  or  thermae.  That  they  were 
adorned  with  admirable  works  of  sculpture,  too,  is  proved 
by  the  fact,  that  some  of  the  noblest  specimens  of  that  art 
have  been  discovered  in  and  among  the  ruins  of  the  baths 
in  Rome.  It  may  be  further  remarked  of  the  Pantheon, 
that  its  effect  has  been  seriously  injured  since  its  original 
construction,  by  the  removal  of  the  columns  from  the  re- Fig.  4 & 5. 
cess  opposite  to  the  entrance,  making  the  opening  greater, 
fixing  the  columns  before  the  antae  with  the  entablature 
broken  round  them,  and  turning  an  arch  over  the  whole  ; 
thus  destroying,  as  far  as  that  part  could  affect  it,  the 
simplicity  and  perfect  harmony  of  the  primitive  composi- 
tion. The  same  bad  taste  which  dictated  that  alteration 
affixed  little  pedimented  excrescences,  now  used  as  altars, 
against  the  piers  which  alternate  with  the  compartments 
of  columns. 

The  still  extensive  remains  of  the  villa  of  Adrian,  near  Palaces 
Tivoli,  bespeak  its  original  magnificence;  and  the  archi- and  villas, 
tectural  fragments  with  which  the  site  even  now  abounds, 
though  it  has  furnished  specimens  to  almost  every  coun- 
try in  Europe,  after  having  suffered  the  spoliation  and 
destruction  attending  the  incursions  of  barbarians  and 
the  lapse  of  so  many  centuries,  attest  its  pristine  beauty, 
and  the  fine  taste  of  its  imperial  builder.  This,  however, 
furnishes  no  evidence  that  its  exterior  was  attractive. 

Every  thing  about  it  appears  directed  to  internal  splendour 
and  effect  alone ; and  indeed  all  collateral  evidence  tends 
to  the  same  point,  that  the  exterior  of  Roman  palaces 
and  mansions  was  not  heeded,  being  merely  plain  brick 
walls.  This  is  the  case  at  Pompeii,  as  we  shall  see  ; and 
the  ruins  of  mansions  in  various  parts  of  Italy,  from  that 
of  Sallust  on  the  Benacus  or  Lago  di  Garda,  to  those  of 
other  Roman  nobles  on  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Baiae, 
present  no  indications  whatever  that  their  exteriors  were 
subjected  to  architectural  decoration.  The  palace  of 
Diocletian  at  Spalatro,  and  the  splendid  remains  of  Bal- 
bec  and  Palmyra,  some  of  which  perhaps  belonged  to  se- 
cular structures,  offer  evidence  to  the  contrary  of  this,  if 
they  are  correctly  restored  in  the  works  which  treat  of 
them  ; for  they  present  in  their  elevations  so  many  of  the 
worst  features  of  the  Italian  school,  that  there  would  be 
room  for  doubt,  if  views  of  the  ruins  did  not  help  to  bear 
the  restorers  out.  But  this  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
the  case  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  empire,  when  archi- 
tecture among  the  Romans  was  in  its  best  state.  Notwith- 
standing the  extent  of  the  structure,  and  its  general  magni- 
ficence, however,  the  mouldings  and  ornaments  in  the  in- 
terior of  the  villa  of  Adrian,  though  in  themselves  classical 
and  elegant,  are  small,  and  have  a general  air  of  littleness, 
especially  when  compared  with  the  apartments  to  which 
they  belong ; — not  that  the  apartments  are  generally  large, 
but  they  are  for  the  most  part  lofty.  The  ceilings  appear 
to  have  been  formed  by  vaulting ; there  are  no  indications 
of  windows,  and  none  of  stairs  of  any  magnitude — so  that 
the  rooms  must  have  been  nearly  if  not  quite  open  at 
one  end,  to  admit  light  and  air;  and  the  probability  is 
that  there  were  no  apartments  above  the  ground  floor, 
though  it  is  likely  enough  that  terraces  formed  on  the 
vaulted  roofs  were  used  for  the  purposes  of  recreation 
and  pleasure.  The  floors  were  of  mosaic,  several  of 


42 


ARCH1TECTU  R E. 


Roman  which  are  preserved  entire  in  the  Museum  of  the  Vati- 
Structures.  can ; and  many  fine  specimens  of  ornamental  sculpture 
in  vases  and  candelabra,  besides  busts,  statues,  and  groups 
in  bronze,  marble,  porphyry,  and  granite,  of  various  styles, 
the  remains  of  the  noble  collection  Adrian  made  during 


his  progress  through  his  extensive  dominions,  found  among 
the  ruins  of  the  villa,  are  conserved  in  the  same  place. 

The  ruins  of  the  palace  of  the  Caesars  present  no  forms 
or  arrangements  from  which  it  would  be  possible  to  form 
a rational  notion  of  its  original  plan,  still  less  of  its  gene- 
ral elevation,  or  indeed  of  the  elevation  of  any  part  of 
it.  Large  vaulted  apartments,  with  here  and  there  a 
little  stucco,  sometimes  moulded  and  sometimes  plain  or 
painted,  and  a few  small  unconnected  chambers  scattered 
up  and  down  in  a mountain  of  brick  and  rubble,  convey 
too  vague  an  idea,  or  rather  they  are  incompetent  to  con- 
vey an  idea  of  a palace  at  all. 

Roman  If  evidence  were  required  to  prove  the  futility  of  writ- 

streets.  ten  descriptions  of  buildings  when  their  general  model  is 
unknown,  it  would  be  enough  to  compare  the  house  of  a 
Roman  gentleman  in  Pompeii  with  the  various  designs 
which  have  been  made  of  the  same  thing  from  the  de- 
scriptions and  directions  of  Vitruvius,  before  the  exhu- 
mation of  that  city.  Their  authors  could  only  work  upon 
the  notion  they  had  of  laying  out  houses ; and  therefore 
the  plans  produced  are  those  of  ill-contrived  modern  re- 
sidences, so  arranged  that  they  may  present  a uniform 
and  architectural  external  elevation,  which  the  Roman 
houses  have  not ; with  windows  properly  lighting  every 
apartment,  which  are  totally  wanting  in  the  latter ; with 
staircases  to  upper  stories  that  did  not  exist;  with  corri- 
dors and  doors  uniformly  disposed,  which  was  unheeded 
in  laying  out  a Roman  house.  The  Vitruvian  restorers 
put  columns  wherever  they  could,  whereas  the  Roman 
architects  appear  only  to  have  put  them  where  they  could 
not  avoid  it.  In  dimensions,  too,  the  former  erred  no  less 
than  in  distribution  ; they  thought  none  too  extensive  for 
a Roman  domicile : but  the  apartments  in  Roman  houses, 
wherever  they  are,  are  generally  small,  and  in  ordinary 
cases  their  whole  site  is  exceedingly  restricted.  In  pro- 
portioning the  various  parts,  they  adhered  to  rules  the 
Romans  never  heeded ; and  applied  the  details  of  the 
architecture  of  temples  and  triumphal  arches  to  domestic 
edifices,  in  whose  composition  the  plasterer,  painter,  and 
mason,  almost  appear  to  have  been  the  only  architects ! 

Far  inferior  as  Pompeii  was  to  Rome  in  magnitude  and 
splendour,  there  is  no  more  reason  for  supposing  that 
houses  in  the  latter  were  so  very  dilFerently  arranged 
from  those  in  the  former  that  the  same  general  descrip- 
tion of  them  should  not  apply  to  both,  than  there  would 
be  for  a future  antiquary  to  hesitate  in  applying  the  plan 
of  a Brighton  or  Bath  house,  which  may  be  preserved,  to 
a London  mansion  ; for  we  know  that  in  ordinary  cases 
they  nearly  coincide.  It  is,  too,  a recorded  fact,  that 
wealthy  Roman  citizens  had  mansions  at  Pompeii  and 
Herculaneum  ; and  we  have  already  stated  that  discove- 
ries made  of  ordinary  houses  under  the  present  level  of 
Rome  show  them  to  be  exactly  like  the  more  perfect  ones 
of  the  Campanian  city,  except  in  their  state  of  preserva- 
tion ; so  that,  “ parvis  componere  magna ,”  in  Pompeii  we 
may  see  the  domestic  as  well  as  public  architecture  of 
ancient  Rome. 

The  streets  of  Pompeii  are  very  narrow,  their  average 
width  being  not  more  than  twelve  or  fifteen  feet;  fre- 
quently they  are  not  more  than  eight  feet  wide,  and  very 
few  in  any  part  exceed  twenty.  The  principal  excavated 
street  in  the  city,  that  leading  from  the  Forum  to  the  gate 
towards  Herculaneum  and  the  street  of  the  tombs,  is,  at 
the  widest,  twenty-three  feet  six  inches,  including  two 
footways,  each  five  feet  wide.  The  streets  are  all  paved 


with  lava,  and  almost  all  have  side  pavements  or  footways,  Roman 
which,  however,  are  for  the  most  part  so  narrow,  that,  Structures, 
with  few  exceptions,  two  persons  cannot  pass  on  any 
them.  That  the  cars  or  carriages  of  the  inhabitants  could 
not  pass  each  other  in  most  of  the  streets,  is  proved  by 
the  wheel-ruts  which  have  been  worn  on  the  stones,  and 
the  recesses  made  here  and  there  for  the  purpose  of  pass- 
ing. Their  narrowness  and  inconvenience  are  aptly  exem- 
plified in  London  by  the  narrow  lanes  which  come  be- 
tween St  Paul’s  and  Thames  Street,  about  Doctors’  Com- 
mons. The  Forums,  on  the  contrary,  though  not  very 
spacious,  are  of  regular  forms,  and  have  wide  and  con- 
venient footways,  completely  colonnaded.  In  immediate 
connection  with  them  are  the  theatres,  the  principal  tem- 
ples, the  basilica,  the  courts  of  justice,  and  other  public 
edifices : the  amphitheatre  is  by  itself,  in  an  extreme  an- 
gle of  the  city.  The  use  of  some  of  the  buildings  on  one 
flank  of  the  great  Forum  is  not  obvious  : they  are  not  ar- 
ranged like  temples,  and  indeed  possess  no  peculiar  cha- 
racter by  which  they  may  be  distinguished : it  is  tolera- 
bly clear,  however,  from  circumstances, 'that  they  were  for 
the  use  of  the  public.  The  temples  differ  but  little  from 
the  ordinary  Roman  structures  of  that  description,  but  are 
generally  inferior  to  them  in  the  quality  of  the  materials 
of  which  they  are  constructed,  in  the  style  of  their  archi- 
tecture, and  in  the  manner  of  its  execution.  The  basilica  is 
not  unlike  a modern  church,  it  being  a long  rectangular 
edifice,  having  an  arcaded  porch  at  one  end,  being  divided 
internally  by  rows  of  columns  into  nave  and  aisles,  and 
having  a columned  recess  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave  for 
a tribunal.  There  are,  however,  no  indications  of  win- 
dows, so  that  it  was  probably  hypsethral,  though  that  ar- 
rangement would  have  made  the  place  very  inconvenient 
for  its  purpose. 

The  streets  of  Pompeii  are  lined  on  either  side  with  PI.  LXV. 
small  cells,  which  served  for  shops  of  various  kinds;  and  Fig-  L 
they  are  strikingly  like  the  ordinary  shops  in  towns  in  the 
south  of  Italy7  and  in  Sicily  at  the  present  time.  Like 
them,  too,  there  appear  in  very  few  cases  to  be  accommo- 
dations in  connection  with  the  shops  for  the  occupiers 
and  their  families,  who  must  have  lived  elsewhere,  as  mo- 
dern Italian  shopkeepers  very  commonly  do.  These  pre- 
sent no  architectural  decoration  whatever ; the  fronts  are  Fig.  3. 
merely  plain  stuccoed  brick  walls,  with  a large  square 
opening  in  each,  part  of  which  is  the  door,  and  part  the 
window,  for  lighting  the  place  and  showing  the  goods. 

Whenever  a private  house  or  gentleman’s  mansion  oc-  Houses 
curs  in  a good  place  for  business,  like  the  ground  floor  of  a.nd  domes, 
many  modernltalian  noblemen’s  palaces,  the  street-front,  or 
fronts,  was  entirely  occupied  with  shops,  a comparatively 
narrow  entrance  being  preserved  to  the  house  in  a conve- 
nient part  between  some  two  of  them.  The  door  to  this 
is  sometimes  quite  plain,  but  at  times  it  is  decorated 
with  pilasters.  When  the  site  permitted  such  an  arrange- 
ment, the  entrance  door  being  open,  a passer  by  could 
look  completely  through  the  house  to  the  garden,  or,  in 
the  absence  of  a garden,  to  the  extreme  boundary  wall,  on 
which  was  painted  a landscape  or  other  picture.  An  ar- 
rangement, it  may  be  observed,  not  unlike  this,  is  com- 
mon in  some  of  the  Italian  cities  at  the  present  day ; but 
the  mansions  being  now  built  in  stories,  and  the  upper 
stories  alone  being  occupied  by  the  families,  a merely 
pleasing  effect  is  produced ; but  in  the  former,  persons 
crossing  from  one  apartment  to  another  were  exposed, 
and  domestic  privacy  thus  completely  invaded  to  produce 
a pretty  picture.  Within  the  entrance  passage,  which 
may  be  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  in  depth,  there  is  a ves- 
tibule or  atrium,  generally  square,  or  nearly  so,  on  which 
various  rooms  open,  that  vary  in  size  from  ten  feet  square 
to  ten  feet  by  twelve,  or  even  twrelve  feet  square  : they 


A R C H I T 

Roman  have  doors  only,  and  were  probably  used  as  sleeping- 
Structures.  chambers  by  the  male  servants  of  the  family.  In  the 
centre  of  this  court  there  is  a sunk  basin  or  reservoir  for 
receiving  the  rain,  called  the  compluvium,  rendering  it 
likely  that  this  was  roofed  over,  with  a well-hole  to  admit 
light  and  air,  and  allow  the  rain  to  drop  from  the  roof 
into  the  reservoir.  Connected  with  this  outer  court  was 
the  kitchen  and  its  accessories.  If  the  site  allowed  the 
second  court  to  be  placed  beyond  the  first  in  the  same  di- 
rection from  the  entrance,  the  communication  was  by  a 
wide  opening  not  unlike  folding  doors  between  rooms  in 
modern  houses,  generally  with  a space  intervening,  which 
was  variously  occupied ; if  the  site  did  not  allow  of  that 
arrangement,  a mere  passage  led  from  one  to  the  other. 
The  second  or  inner  vestibule,  atrium,  or  court,  is  gene- 
rally much  larger  than  the  first,  is  for  the  most  part  paral- 
lelogramic,  but  variously  proportioned.  It  forms  a tetra- 
stoon,  being  open  in  the  middle  and  arranged  with  a pe- 
ristyle of  columns,  colonnading  a covered  walk  all  round. 
On  this  the  best  and  most  finished  apartments  open;  but 
they  are  of  such  various  sizes,  and  are  so  variously  ar- 
ranged, that  it  is  not  easy  to  determine  more  than  that 
they  included  the  refectory,  the  library,  and  sleeping- 
rooms.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  are  such  as  must  have 
been  useless  except  for  the  last  purpose : these,  perhaps, 
were  the  apartments  of  the  female  branches  of  a family, 
at  least  in  most  cases.  Some  houses,  however,  have  a 
nest  of  small  cells  in  an  inner  corner  or  secluded  recess, 
which  may  have  been  the  Gynasceum ; but  that  is  far  from 
being  common.  Exhedrae  or  recesses,  open  in  front  to 
the  atrium,  are  common,  and  are  often  painted  with 
more  care  and  elegance  than  any  other  part  of  the  house  ; 
but  generally  the  walls  are  everywhere  painted — in  the 
more  common  places  flat,  with  a slight  degree  of  orna- 
ment perhaps,  and  in  the  best  rooms  with  arabesques  and 
pictures  in  compartments.  The  architectural  decorations 
are  mostly  painted : the  ornaments  are  not  unfrequently 
elegant,  but  the  architecture  itself  of  the  mansions  is  bad 
in  almost  every  sense.  The  rooms  being  windowless, 
would,  when  covered,  be  necessarily  dark ; the  doors  are 
arranged  without  any  regard  to  uniformity,  either  in  size 
Fig.  8.  or  situation.  The  street-fronts  of  those  houses  which,  not 
being  in  a good  business  situation,  were  not  occupied  with 
shops,  were  not  merely  unadorned,  but  were  actually  de- 
formed by  loop-holes  to  light  some  passage  or  inner  closet 
which  had  no  door  on  one  of  the  courts.  The  columns  of 
the  second  courts  are  generally  in  the  worst  style  possi- 
ble: those  which  have  foliated  capitals,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered compositions  of  the  Corinthian  order,  are  the  best; 
but  the  imitations  of  Doric  and  Ionic  are  both  mean  and 
ugly.  From  the  duty  they  had  to  perform,  and  the  wide- 
ness of  their  intercolumniations,  together  with  the  fact 
that  none  of  them  remain,  it  is  probable  that  the  entabla- 
tures were  of  wood,  and  were  consequently  burnt  at  the 
, time  of  the  destruction  of  the  city,  and  broken  up  by  the 
inhabitants,  almost  all  of  whom  certainly  escaped,  and 
who,  it  is  very  evident,  returned,  when  the  fiery  shower 
and  the  conflagration  had  ceased,  to  remove  whatever 
they  could  find  of  their  property  undestroyed ; for  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  roofs  and  ceilings  all  over  the 
city  are  entirely  gone,  and  the  uncovered  and  broken 
walls  remain,  from  eight  to  ten  feet  only  in  height.  Every 
thing,  indeed,  clearly  demonstrates  that  great  exertions 
were  used  to  recover  whatever  was  valuable ; and  it  is 
very  probable,  moreover,  that  the  place  was  constantly 
resorted  to  by  treasure-seekers  for  perhaps  centuries  af- 
ter the  calamity  occurred.  It  may  also  be  remarked  that 
the  loftier  edifices,  which  would  have  been  unburied  by 
the  ashes,  had  been  thrown  down  by  a terrible  earthquake 
about  sixteen  years  before  the  volcanic  shower  fell,  and 


E C T U II E.  43 

therefore  were  the  more  easily  covered.  Other  showers  Roman 
must  have  fallen  since  that  which  destroyed  the  city,  to  Structures, 
produce  the  complete  filling  up  of  every  part  and  the  ge- 
neral  level  throughout ; as  the  one  must  have  been  pre- 
vented by  those  roofs  and  ceilings  which  were  fire-proof 
in  the  first  instance,  and  the  other  would  be  the  result  of 
the  same,  if  it  were  not  deranged  by  the  subsequent  ex- 
cavations. It  is  indeed  the  fact,  that  the  superstrata  of 
ashes  are  evident  and  unbroken,  while  the  substratum  is 
mingled  with  ruins.  Hence  we  are  still  uninformed  as  to 
the  structure  and  disposition  of  the  roofs  and  ceilings  of 
the  houses  of  the  ancients.  The  doors,  too,  of  whatever 
materials  they  were  composed,  are  entirely  gone : there 
remain,  however,  here  and  there,  indications  of  wooden 
door-posts — in  some  cases,  indeed,  charred  fragments  of 
them — but  they  are  to  outer  or  street-doors,  leaving  it 
probable,  as  we  have  before  suggested,  that  a matting  of 
some  kind,  suspended  from  the  lintel,  formed  the  usual 
doors  to  rooms, — or  perhaps  they  were  closed  by  cur- 
tains only.  In  these  particulars,  unfortunately,  Hercu- 
laneum affords  but  little  assistance,  as  the  mode  of  its 
destruction  was  similar  to  that  of  Pompeii,  and  it,  too, 
was  doubtlessly  exposed  in  nearly  the  same  manner ; its 
subterranean  situation,  moreover,  at  present,  renders  it 
difficult  to  examine ; but,  upon  the  whole,  Herculaneum 
is  more  likely  to  furnish  information  on  these  particulars 
than  its  sister  in  misfortune.  Although  it  has  been  as- 
certained that  the  Romans  understood  the  manufacture 
of  glass,  or  at  least  that  they  possessed  some  utensils  of 
that  material,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  they  were  ac- 
customed to  apply  it  to  exclude  the  weather  and  trans- 
mit light ; for  in  no  case  has  a glass  window  of  any  kind 
been  discovered  in  any  ancient  structure ; and,  without 
contemplating  the  houses  of  Pompeii,  it  is  impossible  to 
appreciate  the  advantages  we  derive  in  our  habitations 
from  the  application  of  that  beautiful  production  of  the 
useful  arts,  and  how  much  superior  it  alone  renders  them 
to  those  of  the  ancients.  The  floors  of  the  houses  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  are  all  of  mosaic  work,  coarser 
and  simpler  in  the  less  esteemed  parts,  and  finer  and 
more  ornate  in  the  more  finished  apartments : the  orna- 
ments are  borders,  dots,  frets,  labyrinths,  flowers,  and 
sometimes  figures.  In  this,  too,  the  superior  advantages 
the  moderns  enjoy  are  evident.  The  ancients  did  not  un- 
derstand how  to  construct  wooden  floors,  at  least  the  ap- 
plication of  timber  to  that  use  was  not  made  by  them ; for, 
though  it  were  admitted,  which,  however,  it  cannot  be  with 
justice,  that,  in  the  warmer  climate  of  the  south  of  Italy, 
lithic  floors  would  be  more  grateful,  that  would  not  be 
the  case  in  this  country  ; and  we  find  the  remains  of  Ro- 
man houses,  baths,  &c.  in  England,  with  floors  of  mosaic, 
as  in  Naples  and  Sicily.  All  the  indications  which  are 
found  in  Pompeii  of  an  upper  story  consist  in  a few  rude 
and  narrow  staircases,  which,  it  is  very  probable,  were  to 
afford  access  to  the  terraces  or  flat  roofs,  for  they  are  not 
common,  and  no  portion  of  an  upper  story  remains  in  any 
part,  though  the  lower  or  ground-floor  rooms,  it  is  most 
likely,  were  arched  over.  In  one  part  of  the  city  the 
houses  on  one  side  of  a street  are  on  a declivity : there  a 
commodious  flight  of  stairs  is  found  to  lead  from  the 
atrium  in  front,  to  another  atrium  and  rooms  below,  not 
under  the  houses,  but  behind  them  ; for  neither  do  we  find 
an  under-ground  or  cellar  story  in  the  Pompeian  houses. 

On  the  shores  of  the  Bay  of  Baias,  and  of  the  Gulf  of 
Gaeta,  at  Cicero’s  Formian  Villa,  however,  there  are 
crypts  or  arched  chambers  under  the  level  of  the  man- 
sions ; for  the  sites  require  substructions  ; but  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  even  these  were  used  as  parts  of  the 
house,  and  as  we  use  cellars ; for  they  present  no  indica- 
tions of  stairs,  and  have  no  regular  means  of  intercommu- 


44 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Roman  nication.  Neither  had  the  houses  of  the  Romans  chim- 
Structures. neyS  0f  any  kind  ; their  only  mode  of  warming  their  apart- 
ments was  by  means  of  braziers,  many  specimens  of  which 
have  been  taken  out  of  both  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii ; 
and  their  cooking  fires  were  on  fixed  gratings  over  a sort 
of  stove,  but  without  Hues  ; so  that  most  probably  char- 
coal alone  was  burnt  for  domestic  purposes.  In  this  re- 
spect the  modern  Italians  are  not  far  beyond  their  prede- 
cessors ; and  the  mode  used  by  them  of  applying  fire  in 
warming  and  cooking  appears  very  similar  to  that  used 
by  the  Romans.  Indeed  many  of  the  peculiarities  we 
have  noticed  in  the  Pompeian  houses  are  still  found  in 
various  parts  of  Italy  and  Sicily;  the  cortili,  courts,  or 
cloisters  of  palaces,  mansions,  monasteries,  and  inns,  are 
representatives  of  the  cavacdia,  vestibula,  atria  or  courts, 
of  Pompeian  or  Roman  mansions.  It  is  common,  too,  in 
the  former,  for  bed-rooms  to  open  on  open  galleries,  as  on 
the  colonnaded  courts  of  the  latter.  There  are  instances 
also  in  the  countries  referred  to,  of  rooms  wdiich  have 
no  aperture  but  the  doorway.  Shops,  we  have  said,  are 
frequently  mere  cells,  having  an  opening  towards  the 
street,  part  of  which  is  a door,  and  the  other  part,  with  a 
low  dado,  a window.  It  was  only  in  the  forums  and  pub- 
lic places,  then,  that  architectural  beauty  and  magnifi- 
cence were  displayed  in  a Roman  city.  Street  architec- 
ture was  unknown,  and  the  decoration  of  houses  was  the 
work  of  the  plasterer  and  painter  rather  than  of  the  ar- 
chitect. 

If  such  as  we  have  described  were  the  imperfections 
and  inferiority  of  the  domestic  architecture  of  the  Ro- 
mans, who  knew  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Egyptians,  and 
had,  moreover,  knowledge  of  the  use  of  the  arch,  and  were, 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  better  carpenters  than  either, 
besides  possessing  greater  wealth,  and  a greater  taste  for 
luxury  than  they,  with  a less  mild  and  serene  climate  than 
Greece  and  Egypt, — what  must  the  domestic  edifices  of 
those  nations  have  been  ! A person  accustomed  to  the 
comforts  and  conveniences  of  houses  in  this  country  finds 
much  to  complain  of  in  a modern  Italian  mansion,  but 
not  so  much  as  an  Italian  would  in  the  house  of  an  an- 
cient Roman ; and  from  analogy  we  may  believe  that  a 
Roman  of  the  empire  would  have  had  reason  to  complain 
of  a Grecian  domicile,  even  of  the  Periclean  age  ; and  a 
Greek,  again,  might  have  been  abridged  of  the  comforts 
of  his  house  in  the  palace  of  an  Egyptian. 

Superior  as  the  habitations  of  civilized  men  in  modern 
times  may  be  to  those  of  the  ancients,  a degree  of  classic 
beauty  and  elegance  pervaded  the  decorations  and  furni- 
ture, and  even  the  domestic  utensils,  in  the  houses  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  which  we  do  not  equal, 
though  we  imitate  them ; and  from  the  Hellenic  taste 
which  reigns  in  their  forms  and  enrichments,  their  origin 
may  generally  be  attributed  to  Greek  artists ; so  that,  it 
may  be  supposed,  in  these  particulars  the  Greeks  even 
excelled  the  Romans.  It  is  indeed  not  a little  singular, 
that  though  the  architecture  of  these  cities  is  completely 
Roman,  the  painted  ornaments  and  ornamental  sculp- 
ture generally  are  in  style  and  manner  perfectly  Greek. 
There  are  certainly  modifications  found  of  Greek  Doric 
columns  in  Pompeii ; but  they  bear  so  slight  a degree  of 
relationship  to  their  original,  that  its  existence  may  al- 
most be  denied, — they  have  the  form  without  the  feeling. 
Sepulchral  As  works  of  architecture,  the  sepulchral  monuments  of 
monu-  the  Romans  were  of  more  importance  than  their  domes- 
ments.  tic  structures.  There  is  more  architectural  display  in  the 
street  of  the  tombs  at  Pompeii,  than  in  any  street  of  the 
city  itself ; and  the  mausoleum  of  Adrian  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tiber  at  Rome  was  a much  more  important 
object  in  its  perfect  state  than  his  villa  near  Tivoli  could 
ever  have  been.  It  was  perhaps  the  most  solendid  struc- 


ture of  the  kind  ever  executed ; excelling  the  Memphian  Roman 
pyramids  as  much  in  architectural  pretence  as  they  sur- Corinthian, 
pass  it  in  magnitude.  There  was,  too,  a degree  of  har-v^^N^ 
mony  and  simplicity  in  its  composition,  which  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  the  imperial  builder, 
who  was  himself  an  adept  in  architecture,  had  acquired 
better  taste  than  the  architects  of  Rome  generally  pos- 
sessed, by  the  contemplation  of  the  monuments  of  Greece 
and  Egypt.  It  consisted  of  a deep  quadrangular  basement, 
each  of  whose  sides  was  about  250  feet  in  length.  This  was 
surmounted  by  a lofty  circular  mass,  on  which  was  a gra- 
duated stylobate,  supporting  a noble  peristyle  of  Corin- 
thian columns,  with  their  entablature ; forming,  with  its 
circular  cone,  a species  of  peristylar  temple,  something 
like  that  below  the  cupola  of  St  Paul’s  Cathedral  in  Lon- 
don. Above  this  there  was,  most  probably,  a species  of 
dome,  whose  acroterium  is  said  to  have  been  a metal  pine- 
cone,  which  was  the  receptacle  of  the  ashes  of  the  empe- 
ror. The  mausoleum  of  Augustus  was  inferior  in  size,  in 
splendour,  and  in  good  taste,  we  may  believe,  from  the 
descriptions  which  exist  of  it  when  in  a more  perfect 
state  than  it  is  at  present,  to  that  of  Adrian;  but  it  was 
nevertheless  a magnificent  monument.  Its  form  was 
conical ; it  diminished  in  stories  and  terraces,  probably 
columned  round,  and  terminated  at  the  apex  in  a bronze 
figure  of  its  founder.  The  sepulchral  monuments  of  Ce- 
cilia Metella,  of  the  Plautian  family,  and  others,  are  evi- 
dences of  the  same  fact.  The  sarcophagus  from  the  first- 
mentioned  of  these  is  simple  and  elegant  in  the  extreme ; 
and  indeed  it  exhibits  a greater  degree  of  good  taste  than 
almost  any  thing  of  the  same  kind  that  remains  to  us  of 
the  ancients. 

Of  the  Roman  Corinthian. 

Like  the  Greek  orders,  the  Roman  Corinthian  may  be  PI.  LXIV- 
said  to  consist  of  three  parts,  stylobate,  column,  and  en-Fig-  6,  8, 
tablature;  but,  unlike  them,  the  stylobate  is  much  loftier,9’  & 
and  is  not  graduated,  except  for  the  purposes  of  access 
before  a portico.  Its  usual  height  is  not  exactly  deter- 
minable, in  consequence  of  the  ruined  state  of  most  of 
the  best  examples ; but  it  may  be  taken  at  from  two  and 
a half  to  three  diameters.  In  the  triumphal  arches  the 
height  of  the  stylobate  sometimes  amounts  to  four,  and 
even  to  five  diameters.  It  is  variously  arranged,  more- 
over, having,  in  the  shallower  examples,  simply  a congeries 
of  mouldings  forming  its  base,  with  perhaps  a narrow 
square  member  under  it,  a plain  dado,  and  a covering 
cornice  or  coping,  on  the  back  of  which  the  columns  rest. 

In  the  loftier  examples  a single,  and  sometimes  a double 
plinth,  comes  under  the  base  mouldings ; and  a blocking 
cornice  superimposes  the  coping,  to  receive  the  bases  of 
the  columns.  This  last  is  only  necessary  when  the  height 
of  the  stylobate  is  such  as  to  take  the  columnar  base 
above  the  human  eye,  when  the  coping  cornice  would  in- 
tercept it  if  a blocking  cornice  did  not  intervene. 

The  column  consists  of  base,  shaft,  and  capital,  and  PI.  LXIL 
varies  in  height  from  nine  and  a half  to  ten  diameters.  The 
base  has,  ordinarily,  in  addition  to  the  diminishingcongeries 
of  mouldings  which  follows  the  circular  form  of  the  shafts, 
a square  member  or  plinth,  whose  edges  are  vertical ; with 
this  the  whole  height  of  the  base  is  about  half  a dia- 
meter. The  rest  of  this  part  of  the  column  is  variously 
composed,  but  it  generally  consists  of  two  plain  tori  and 
a scotia,  with  fillets  intervening,  as  in  the  Greek  examples 
of  this  order,  but  differently  proportioned  and  projected, 
as  the  examples  indicate.  Sometimes  the  scotia  is  divided 
into  two  parts,  by  two  beads  with  fillets,  as  in  the  Jupiter 
Stator  example,  in  which  also  a bead  is  placed  between  the  Ex.  I. 
upper  torus  and  the  fillet  of  the  apophyge.  The  spread 
of  the  base  varies  from  a diameter  and  one  third  to  a dia- 


ARCHITECTURE.  45 


Roman  meter  and  four  ninths.  In  the  best  Roman  examples,  as 
Corinthian. wej]  as  jn  (q,e  Greek,  the  shaft  diminishes  with  entasis: 
the  average  diminution  is  one  eighth  of  a diameter.  The 
shaft  was  always  fluted  when  the  material  of  which  it  was 
composed  did  not  oppose  itself ; for  the  Romans  often 
used  granites,  and  sometimes  a stratified  or  laminous 
marble  called  cipottino,  for  the  shafts  of  columns ; the 
former  of  which  could  not  be  easily  wrought  and  polished 
in  flutes,  and  the  latter  would  scale  away  if  it  were  cut 
into  narrow  fillets.  Like  the  Greek  Corinthian  and 
Ionic  orders,  the  Roman  Corinthian  has  twenty-four  fil- 
lets and  flutes.  The  flutes  are  generally  semicircles,  and 
they  terminate  at  both  ends,  for  the  most  part,  with  that 
contour.  Dividing  the  space  for  a fillet  and  a flute  into 
five  parts,  four  are  given  to  the  latter,  and  one  to  the  for- 
mer. The  hypotrachelium  is  a plain  torus,  about  half  the 
size  of  the  upper  torus  of  the  base,  or  half  the  width  of  a 
flute,  as  these  nearly  correspond : it  rests  on  a fillet  above 
the  cavetto  at  the  head  of  the  shaft. 

The  ordinary  height  of  the  capital  is  a diameter  and 
one  eighth ; but  there  is  a very  fine  example  in  which  it 
hardly  exceeds  one  diameter,  and  another  in  which  it  is 
not  quite  so  much.  It  is  composed  of  two  rows  or  bands 
of  acanthus  leaves,  each  consisting  of  six,  placed  upright, 
and  ranged  side  by  side,  but  not  in  contact ; of  helices  and 
tendrils  trussed  with  foliage ; and  an  abacus,  whose  faces 
are  moulded  and  variously  enriched.  The  lower  row  of 
acanthus  leaves  is  two  sevenths  the  whole  height  of  the 
capital ; the  upper  row  is  two  thirds  the  height  of  the 
lower  above  it,  and  its  leaves  rest  on  the  hypotrachelium 
below,  in  the  space  left  between  the  others.  They  are 
placed  regularly,  too,  under  the  helices  and  tendrils 
above,  which  support  the  angles,  and  are  under  the  middle 
of  each  side  of  the  abacus.  The  construction  and  arrange- 
ment of  the  next  compartment  above  must  be  gathered 
from  the  examples ; for  an  idea  of  them  cannot  be  con- 
veyed in  words.  The  abacus  is  one  seventh  of  the  height 
of  the  capital ; in  plan  it  is  a square  whose  angles  are  cut 
off,  and  whose  sides  are  concaved  in  segments  of  a circle, 
under  an  angle  at  the  centre  of  from  55°  to  60°.  Its  ver- 
tical face  is  generally  a flat  cavetto,  with  a fillet  and 
carved  ovalo  corbelling  over  at  an  angle  of  about  125°. 
The  cavetto  is  sometimes  enriched  with  trailing  foliage, 
and  a rosette  or  flower  of  some  kind  overhangs  the  ten- 
drils from  the  middle  of  each  side  of  the  abacus. 

Every  example  of  this  order  differs  so  much  in  the  form, 
proportion,  and  distribution  of  the  various  parts,  of  its 
capital  particularly,  that  it  cannot  be  described  in  gene- 
ral terms,  like  the  Greek  Doric  and  Ionic : the  example 
Ex.  1.  we  have  referred  to  in  this  definition  is  that  of  the  Jupiter 
Stator,  the  most  elegant,  perhaps,  of  all  the  Roman  spe- 
cimens. 

The  entablature  varies  in  different  examples  from  one 
diameter  and  seven  eighths  to  more  than  two  diameters 
' and  a half  in  height.  Perhaps  the  best  proportioned  are 
Ex.  4.  those  of  the  portico  of  the  Pantheon,  and  of  the  temple 

Ex.  3.  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina ; the  former  being  rather  more 

than  two  diameters  and  a quarter,  and  the  latter  rather 
less  than  that  ratio.  The  entablature  of  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  Stator  is  more  than  two  diameters  and  a half  in 
height,  of  which  the  cornice  alone  occupies  one  sixth 
more  than  a full  diameter,  leaving  to  the  frieze  and  archi- 
trave something  less  than  one  diameter  and  a half  be- 
tween them.  In  this  latter  particular  it  nearly  agrees 
with  the  other  two  quoted  examples,  so  that  the  great 
difference  in  the  general  height  is  in  the  cornice  almost 
alone,  the  cornices  of  the  others  being  about  a sixth  less, 
instead  of  as  much  more,  than  a diameter  in  height.  The 
Roman  Corinthian  entablature  may  be  taken,  then,  at  two 
diameters  and  a quarter  in  height.  Rather  more  than 


three  fifths  of  this  is  nearly  equally  divided  between  the  Roman 
architrave  and  frieze,  the  advantage,  if  any,  being  given  Corinthian, 
to  the  former  ; the  cornice,  of  course,  takes  the  remaining  ' 

two  fifths,  or  thereabouts.  The  architrave  is  divided  into 
three  unequal  fascias  and  a small  congeries  of  mouldings, 
separating  it  from  the  frieze.  The  first  fascia  is  one  fifth 
the  whole  height ; one  third  of  what  remains  is  given  to 
the  second,  and  the  remainder  is  divided  between  the 
third  fascia  and  the  band  of  mouldings, — two  thirds  to  the 
former,  and  one  to  the  latter.  A bead,  sometimes  plain 
and  sometimes  carved,  taken  from  the  second  fascia,  which 
is  itself  enriched  in  the  Jupiter  Stator  example,  marks  its 
projection  over  the  first ; and  a small  cyma-reversa,  carved 
or  plain  as  the  bead  may  be,  taken  from  the  third  fascia, 
marks  its  projection  over  the  second.  The  band  consists 
of  a bead,  a cyma-reversa,  carved  or  plain  according  to 
the  general  character  of  the  ordinance,  and  a fillet.  In 
non-accordance  with  the  practice  of  the  Greeks,  the  face 
of  the  lowest  or  first  fascia  of  the  architrave,  in  the  Roman 
Corinthian,  impends  the  face  of  the  column  at  the  top  of 
the  shaft,  or  at  its  smallest  diameter ; and  every  face  in- 
clines inwards  from  its  lowest  face  up.  The  whole  projec- 
tion of  the  architrave,  that  of  the  covering  fillet  of  the 
band,  is  nearly  equal  to  the  height  of  the  first  fascia.  The 
frieze  impends  the  lowest  angle  of  the  architrave.  Its  face 
is  either  perpendicular,  or  it  slightly  inclines  inwards,  like 
the  fascias  of  that  part  of  the  entablature : in  some  cases 
it  is  quite  plain,  and  in  others  is  enriched  with  a foliate 
composition,  or  with  sculptures  in  low  or  half  relief.  The 
cornice  consists  of  a deep  bed-mould,  variously  propor- 
tioned to  the  corona ; but  it  may  be  taken  generally,  when 
it  has  modillions,  at  three  fifths,  and  when  it  has  none,  at 
one  half  the  whole  height.  It  is  composed  of  a bead,  an 
ovalo  or  cyma-reversa  and  fillet,  a plain  vertical  member, 
sometimes  dentilled,  another  bead,  and  a cyma-reversa 
and  fillet  or  ovalo,  as  the  lower  may  not  be : this  is  sur- 
mounted, when  modillions  are  used,  by  another  plain 
member,  with  a small  carved  cyma-reversa  above  it.  On 
this  the  modillions  are  placed,  and  the  cyma  breaks 
round  them.  They  are  about  as  wide  as  the  member  from 
which  they  project,  and  are  about  two  thicknesses  apart. 

In  form  they  are  horizontal  trusses  or  consols,  with  a 
wavy  profile,  finishing  at  one  end  in  a large,  and  at  the 
other  in  a small,  volute ; and  under  each  there  is  gene- 
rally placed  a raffled  or  acanthus  leaf.  In  proportioning 
the  parts  of  this  bed-mould  in  itself,  one  third  of  its  height 
may  be  given  to  the  modillion  member,  and  the  other  two 
thirds  divided  nearly  equally,  but  increasing  upwards  into 
three  parts,  one  for  the  lowest  mouldings,  one  for  the 
plain  or  dentil  member,  and  the  third  and  rather  largest 
portion  for  the  mouldings  under  the  modillion  member. 

The  mouldings  of  this  part  of  the  cornice  are  carved  or 
left  plain,  according  to  the  character  of  the  ordinance ; 
and  its  greatest  projection,  except  the  modillions  them- 
selves, that  of  the  modillion  member,  is  about  equal  to 
half  its  height.  The  upper  part  of  the  cornice, — the  co- 
rona, with  its  crown  mouldings, — consists  of  the  vertical 
member  called  the  corona,  which  is  two  fifths  the  whole 
height; — this,  in  the  examples  of  the  temples  of  Jupiter 
Stator  and  Antoninus  and  Faustina,  is  enriched  with  ver- 
tical flutes ; — a narrow  fillet,  an  ovalo,  and  a wider  fillet, 
occupy  one  third  of  the  rest,  the  other  two  thirds  being 
given  to  cyma-recta,  with  a covering  fillet  which  crowns 
the  whole.  Its  extreme  projection  is  nearly  equal  to  the 
whole  height  of  the  cornice. 

The  ordinance  of  the  temple  of  Vesta,  or  of  the  sibyl  Ex.  2. 
at  Tivoli,  whose  entablature  is  the  very  low  one  mention- 
ed, is  not  generally  in  accordance  with  the  scale  we  have 
given,  and  it  must  be  referred  to  for  its  own  peculiar 
proportions. 


46 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Roman  Pediments  with  the  Roman  Corinthian  order  are  found 
Corinthian.  be  steeper  than  they  were  made  by  the  Greeks,  vary- 
ing  in  inclination  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  degrees ; 
but  they  are  formed  by  the  cornice  of  the  entablature  in 
the  same  manner.  Antefixae  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
used  on  flank  cornices  as  in  Greek  ordinances,  in  which 
the  cymatium  is  confined  to  pediments ; but  in  Roman 
works  it  is  continued  over  the  horizontal  or  flank  cornice, 
as  we  have  described  ; and  frequently  it  is  enriched  with 
lions’  heads,  which  were  at  the  first  introduced  as  water- 
spouts. The  planceer  or  soffit  of  the  corona  is,  in  the 
Jupiter  Stator  example,  coffered  between  the  modillions, 
and  in  every  coffer  there  is  a flower.  The  soffit  of  the 
entablature  in  this  order  is  generally  panelled  and  enrich- 
ed with  foliate  or  other  ornament.  The  intercolumnia- 
tion  is  not  the  same  in  any  two  examples.  In  the  temple 
of  Vesta  in  Rome  it  hardly  exceeds  a diameter  and  a 
quarter  ; in  the  Jupiter  Stator  example  it  is  a fraction  less 
than  one  diameter  and  a half ; in  that  of  Antoninus  and 
Faustina,  nearly  a diameter  and  three  quarters ; in  the 
portico  at  Assisi,  rather  more  than  that  ratio ; in  the  por- 
tico of  the  Pantheon,  almost  two  diameters ; and  in  the 
Tivoli  example,  a fraction  more  than  that  proportion. 

The  antae  of  the  Roman  Corinthian  order  is  generally 
parallel;  but  pilasters  are  mostly  diminished  and  fluted 
as  the  columns.  Of  two  of  the  existing  examples  of  antae, 
in  one — that  of  the  temple  of  Mars  Ultor — they  are  plain, 
to  fluted  columns ; and  in  the  other — that  of  the  Pantheon 
portico — they  are  fluted,  to  plain  columns.  The  capitals 
and  bases  are  transcripts  of  those  of  the  columns,  fitted  to 
the  square  forms. 

Ceilings  of  porticoes  are  formed,  as  in  the  Greek  orders, 
by  the  frieze  returning  in  beams  from  the  internal  archi- 
trave to  the  wall  or  front  of  the  structure,  supporting  coffers 
more  or  less  enriched  with  foliage  or  flowers.  This,  how- 
ever, could  only  have  been  effected  when  the  projection  was 
not  more  than  one,  or  at  the  most  two  intercolumniations, 
if  stone  was  used ; and  it  is  only  in  such  that  examples 
exist.  Porticoes  ordinarily  must  have  had  arched  ceilings, 
as  that  of  the  Pantheon  has,  or  the  beams  must  have  been 
of  wood ; in  which  latter  case  probably  the  compartments 
of  the  ceiling  would  be  larger.  How,  in  the  former,  it 
was  arranged  we  cannot  tell,  as  the  arches  only  remain  ; 
and  they  may  not  be  of  the  date  of  the  rest  of  the  portico. 

The  ancient  examples  of  what  is  called  the  Composite 
order  do  not  differ  so  much  from  the  ordinary  examples 
of  the  Corinthian  as  the  latter  do  among  themselves,  ex- 
cept in  the  peculiar  conformation  of  the  capital  of  the  co- 
lumn. In  other  respects,  indeed,  its  arrangement  and 
general  proportions  are  exactly  those  of  the  Corinthian. 
The  Composite  was  used,  we  have  said,  in  triumphal 
arches,  and,  in  the  best  ages  of  Roman  architecture,  in 
them  alone.  The  difference  in  the  capital  consists  in  the 
enlargement  of  the  volutes  to  nearly  one  fourth  the  whole 
height  of  the  capital,  and  in  connecting  their  stems  hori- 
zontally under  the  abacus,  giving  the  appearance  of  a dis- 
torted Ionic  capital.  The  central  tendrils  of  the  Corin- 
thian are  omitted,  and  the  bell  of  the  capital  is  girded  un- 
der the  stem  of  the  volutes  by  an  ovalo  and  bead,  as  in 
the  Ionic.  Acanthus  leaves,  in  two  rows,  fill  up  the  whole 
heightfrom  thehypotracheliumto  the  bottom  of  thevolutes, 
and  are  consequently  higher  than  in  the  Corinthian  capi- 
tal ; this  difference  is  given  to  the  upper  row.  Besides 
this  Composite,  however,  the  Romans  made  many  others, 
the  arrangements  and  proportions  of  the  ordinances  being 
generally  those  of  the  Corinthian  order,  and  the  capitals 
corresponding  also  in  general  form,  though  in  themselves 
differently  composed.  In  these,  animals  of  different  spe- 
cies, the  human  figure,  armour,  a variety  of  foliage,  and 
other  peculiarities,  are  found.  Shafts  of  columns  also  are 


Pl.LXIII 
Lx.  2. 


sometimes  corded  or  cabled  instead  of  being  fluted  : those  Roman 
of  the  internal  ordinance  of  the  Pantheon  are  cabled  one  Ionic- 
third  their  height,  and  the  flutes  of  the  antae  of  that  or- 
dinance  are  flat,  qccentric  curves.  There  are  fragments  of 
others  existing,  in  which  the  fillets  between  the  flutes  are 
beaded ; some  in  which  they  are  wider  than  usual,  and 
grooved ; others,  again,  whose  whole  surface  is  wrought 
with  foliage  in  various  ways ; and  it  would  be  no  less  ab- 
surd to  arrange  all  these  in  different  orders,  than  it  is  to 
make  a distorted  foliate  capital  the  ground-work  of  an 
order. 

Of  the  Homan  Ionic. 

The  only  existing  example  of  this  in  Rome,  in  which  PL  LXIV- 
the  columns  are  insulated,  is  in  the  Temple  of  Manly  For- Fig-  12. 
tune,  except  that  of  the  Temple  of  Concord,  which  is  too 
barbarous  to  deserve  consideration.  Its  stylobate,  like  that 
of  the  Roman  Corinthian,  is  lofty  and  not  graduated, 
having  a moulded  base  and  cornice  or  surbase.  The  Pl.LXIII. 
column  is  nearly  nine  diameters  in  height;  its  base  is  Ex.  3. 
half  a diameter  in  height,  and  consists  of  a plinth,  two 
tori,  a scotia,  and  two  fillets ; the  shaft  has  twenty  fillets 
and  flutes,  and  diminishes  one  tenth  of  a diameter ; the 
capital  is  two  fifths  of  a diameter  in  height ; the  volutes, 
however,  dip  a little  lower,  being  themselves  about  that 
depth  without  the  abacus ; the  corbelling  for  the  volutes  is 
formed  by  a bead  and  large  ovalo,  half  the  height  of  the 
capital ; the  latter  of  these  is  carved  ; a straight  band  con- 
nects the  generating  lines  of  the  volutes,  whose  ends  are 
bolstered  and  enriched  with  foliage ; and  a square  abacus, 
moulded  on  the  edges,  covers  the  whole.  The  entablature 
is  rather  less  than  two  diameters  high  ; three  tenths  of  this 
are  given  to  the  architrave,  the  same  to  the  frieze,  and 
the  cornice  occupies  the  remaining  two  fifths.  The  archi- 
trave is  unequally  divided  into  three  fascias,  and  a band 
consisting  of  a cyma-reversa  and  fillet ; the  lowest  angle 
impends  the  upper  face  of  the  shaft  of  the  column.  The 
frieze  is  in  the  same  vertical  line,  and  is  covered  with 
a fillet  which  receives  the  cornice ; it  is  also  enriched 
with  a composition  of  figures  and  foliage.  The  cornice  con- 
sists of  a bed-mould,  two  fifths  of  its  height,  and  a corona 
with  crown  mouldings.  The  bed-mould  is  divided  nearly 
equally  between  a cyma-reversa  and  fillet,  a square  den- 
tilled  member  and  fillet,  and  another  fillet  and  ovalo.  The 
corona  is  two  fifths  the  height  of  the  rest  of  the  cornice ; 
another  fifth  is  occupied  by  two  fillets  and  a cyma-rever- 
sa, and  the  rest  is  given  to  a cyma-recta  and  crowning  fil- 
let. The  whole  projection  is  nearly  equal  to  the  height 
of  the  cornice.  The  cymatium  is  enriched  with  acanthus 
leaves  and  lions’  heads,  and  the  mouldings  of  the  bed- 
mould  and  architrave  band  are  carved.  The  soffit  of  the 
corona  is  hollowed  out  in  a wide  groove,  whose  internal 
angles  are  rounded  off  in  a cavetto,  but  without  ornament 
of  any  kind,  forming  indeed  a mere  throating.  Like  the 
angular  capitals  of  the  Greek  Ionic,  the  external  volute  of 
this  is  turned  out  and  repeated  on  the  flank:  either  that 
or  the  abuse  of  it  in  the  Composite  capital  gave  rise  to 
distortions  of  this  order,  in  which  all  the  volutes  of  the 
capital  are  angular,  and  consequently  all  its  four  faces  are 
alike.  In  other  respects,  however,  it  does  not  differ  ge- 
nerally from  the  ordinary  Roman  examples  of  Ionic.  The 
Temple  of  Manly  Fortune  is  pseudo-peripteral,  and  con-  PI.  LX IV 
sequently  has  neither  antae  nor  pilasters,  nor  do  ancient  Fig-  12. 
examples  exist  of  either. 

Of  the  Roman  Doric. 

This  is  even  a ruder  imitation  of  the  Grecian  original FLLXIIJ. 
than  the  mean  and  tasteless  deterioration  of  the  voluted 
Ionic  is  of  the  graceful  Athenian  examples.  The  speci-Ex.  4 
men  of  it  which  is  considered  preferable  to  the  others  is 


ARCHIT 

Roman  that  of  the  theatre  of  Marcellus  in  Rome.  The  column  is 

Doric,  nearly  eight  diameters  in  height : it  consists  of  shaft  and 
capital  only.  The  shaft  is  quite  plain,  except  fillets  above 
and  below,  with  escape  and  cavetto;  and  it  diminishes  one 
fifth  of  its  diameter.  The  capital  is  four  sevenths  of  a 
diameter  high,  and  is  composed  of  a torus  which  forms  the 
hypotrachelium,  and,  with  the  necking,  occupies  one  third 
the  whole  height.  Three  deep  fillets,  with  a semitorus  or 
quarter-round  moulding,  are  intended  to  represent  the 
ovalo  and  its  annulets  of  the  Greek  capital.  They  occupy 
three  sevenths  of  the  rest ; the  other  four  sevenths  are 
given  to  the  abacus,  three  fifths  of  whose  depth  is  plain 
and  vertical ; and  the  other  two  are  divided  between  a 
cyma-reversa  and  a fillet. 

The  corona  and  crown  mouldings  of  the  cornice  being 
destroyed,  the  whole  height  of  the  entablature  cannot  be 
correctly  ascertained  ; but  from  analogy  it  may  be  taken, 
with  the  bed-mould,  part  of  which  exists,  at  about  two 
thirds  of  a diameter,  making,  with  the  architrave  and 
frieze,  an  entablature  nearly  two  diameters  high.  Of  this 
the  architrave  is  rather  more  than  one  fourth,  indeed  ex- 
actly half  a diameter.  Three  tenths  of  its  depth  are  un- 
equally occupied  by  the  taenia,  regula,  and  guttae,  the  first 
being  rather  the  widest,  projecting  more  than  its  own 
depth,  and  the  second  the  narrowest.  The  guttae  are  six 
in  number,  and  are  truncate  semicones  in  form.  The  rest 
of  the  surface  of  the  architrave  is  plain  and  vertical,  im- 
pending a point  rather  within  the  superior  diameter  of  the 
column.  The  frieze  is  two  fifths  the  whole  height  of  the 
entablature.  A fascia,  one  eighth  of  its  own  height,  bands 
it  above  the  triglyphs,  and  projects  about  one  third  of  its 
depth ; the  rest  of  its  surface  is  plain  vertically,  but  hori- 
zontally it  is  divided  into  triglyphs,  which  are  half  a dia- 
meter in  width,  and  are  placed  over  the  centres  of  the 
columns.  These  are  channelled  with  two  full  and  two 
hemi-glyphs,  whose  heads  are  cut  square  on  the  outer 
edge,  but  inclined  downwards  at  the  angle  of  the  glyphs. 
The  space  between  the-  triglyphs  is  equal  to  the  height  of 
the  frieze  without  its  plat-band  or  fascia,  making  in  effect 
perfectly  square  metopes.  All  that  can  be  traced  of  the 
cornice  is  a small  cyma-reversa,  immediately  over  the 
frieze,  and  a square  member  with  dentils  on  it.  In  the 
example  the  cornice  is  completed  from  that  of  the  Doric 
of  the  Colosseum. 

The  temple  at  Cora  presents  a singular  specimen  of  the 
Doric  order,  evidently  the  result  of  an  examination  of 
some  Greek  examples,  but  moulded  to  the  Roman  pro- 
portions and  to  Roman  taste.  The  columns  are  enormous- 
ly tall,  but  the  shafts  are  partly  fluted  and  partly  cham- 
fered for  fluting,  like  the  Greek.  The  capital  is  ridiculously 
shallow,  but  the  abacus  is  plain,  and  the  echinus  of  a some- 
what Hellenic  form.  The  entablature  is  very  little  more 
than  a diameter  and  one  third  in  height,  and  the  archi- 
trave of  it  is  shallower  even  than  the  capital ; but  the 
frieze  and  cornice  are  tolerably  well  proportioned,  though 
the  triglyphs  in  the  former  are  meagre,  narrow  slips,  and 
the  latter  is  covered  by  a deep  widely  projecting  cavetto, 
that  would  be  injurious  to  even  a better  composition.  In- 
stead of  regular  mutules  with  guttae,  the  whole  of  the 
planceer  of  the  cornice  is  studded  with  the  latter ; but,  like 
the  Greek,  the  triglyph  over  the  angular  column  extends 
to  the  angle  of  the  architrave,  which  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  the  practice  of  the  Romans ; yet  the  reason  for 
so  doing  does  not  appear  to  have  been  understood,  for  the 
external  intercolumniations  are  the  same  as  the  others. 

As  far  as  we  have  the  means  of  judging,  the  Romans 
made  the  antae  of  their  Doric  similar  to  the  columns,  only 
that  they  were  of  course  square  instead  of  round ; though 
indeed  an  attached  column  appears  to  have  been  gene- 
rally preferred. 


E C T U R E.  47 

It  may,  however,  be  here  again  intimated,  that  these  two  Roman 
orders,  the  Ionic  and  Doric  of  the  Roman  school,  ought  Mouldings, 
hardly  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  architecture  ' 

of  the  Romans.  They  are  merely  coarse  and  vulgar  adap- 
tations of  the  Greek  originals,  of  which  we  now  possess 
records  of  the  finest  examples.  If  it  were  not,  therefore, 
that  custom  required  it,  we  should  have  omitted  all  men- 
tion of  them,  or  at  least  have  left  them  to  the  Italo-Vitru- 
vian  school,  to  which  they  properly  belong.  Yet  their 
meanness  and  tastelessness,  when  compared  with  the 
Grecian  models,  will  more  strikingly  show  the  superiority 
of  the  latter,  and  show,  moreover,  how  the  architects  of 
the  Italian  school  must  have  been  blinded  by  their  system, 
when  they  fancied  such  wretched  exemplars  as  those  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking  to  be  beautiful. 

Of  Homan  Mouldings  and  Ornament. 

The  mouldings  used  in  Roman  architectural  works  are  Pi.  LXL 
the  same  as  the  Grecian  in  general  form,  but  they  vary 
materially  from  them  in  contour.  The  Roman  cyma-recta 
is  projected  much  more  than  the  Greek,  with  a deeper 
flexure ; and  the  two  parts  or  ends  seldom  correspond, 
the  one  being  generally  larger  than  the  other.  On  the 
contrary,  the  Roman  cyma-reversa  does  not  project  so 
much,  or  at  so  large  an  angle  with  its  base,  as  the  Grecian, 
nor  is  it  so  deeply  fleeted  as  the  Greeks  made  it.  The 
upper  or  convex  part  of  this  moulding  is  almost  always 
larger  than  the  lower  or  concave ; and  it  is  frequently 
allowed  to  finish  below  in  a sharp  arris  projecting  from 
whatever  may  be  below  it,  and  above  it  abuts  the  hori- 
zontal soffit  of  its  covering  fillet  in  a similarly  harsh  man- 
ner. The  ovalo  of  Greek  architecture  is  represented  in 
the  Roman  style  by  a moulding  whose  outline  is  nearly 
the  convex  quadrant  of  a circle,  or  a quarter  round,  and 
sometimes  it  is  nearly  that  of  the  quadrant  of  an  ellip- 
sis. The  Roman  torus  is  either  a semicircle  or  a semi- 
ellipsis ; and  the  bead  is  a torus,  except  in  its  applica- 
tion, and  in  being  smaller,  and  generally  projected  rather 
more  than  half  the  figure  whose  form  it  bears.  The 
cavetto,  in  Roman  architecture,  is  nearly  a regular  curve, 
being  sometimes  the  concave  quadrant  of  a circle,  or  in- 
deed the  reverse  of  an  ovalo,  and  sometimes  a smaller 
segment.  A Roman  scotia  is  more  deeply  cut,  and  is 
consequently  less  delicate  than  the  same  member  in  a 
Greek  congeries : its  form  frequently  approaches  that  of 
a concave  semiellipsis. 

This  correspondence  in  general  form,  and  disagree- 
ment in  spirit,  of  Greek  and  Roman  mouldings,  appear  to 
have  arisen  entirely  from  the  ignorance  or  inattention  of 
the  Romans  to  the  governing  principle  of  Greek  combi- 
nations ; as  we  have  seen  that  in  these  the  individual 
mouldings  are  not  independent,  as  the  Romans  made 
them,  but  that  they  take  their  contour  and  direction  from 
each  other,  under  a certain  pervading  outline. 

The  enrichments  of  Roman  mouldings  are  for  the  most 
part  similar  to  those  of  the  Greek,  but  less  delicate  and 
graceful  both  in  design  and  drawing.  Those  of  the  cyma 
and  ovalo  are  particularly  referred  to,  but  the  Romans 
used  others  besides.  Raffled  leaves  form  a favourite  en- 
richment in  the  architecture  of  the  Romans : indeed  these 
are  hardly  less  frequent  in  their  works  than  the  honey- 
suckle is  in  those  of  the  Greeks.  Mouldings  were  en- 
riched with  them;  and  a raffled  leaf  masks  the  angles  of 
carved  cymas  and  ovalos  in  the  former,  as  a honeysuckle 
does  in  the  latter.  Nevertheless,  the  honeysuckle  and 
lotus  are  both  found  in  Roman  enrichments,  particularly 
the  latter,  and  perhaps  even  more  than  in  Greek.  It  is 
not  uncommon  to  find  examples  of  Roman  architecture 
completely  overdone  with  ornament, — every  moulding 
carved,  and  every  straight  surface,  whether  vertical  or 


43  ARCHITECTURE. 


Italian  horizontal,  sculptured  with  foliage,  or  with  historical  or 
Arehitec-  characteristic  subjects  in  relief.  This  fault  is  most  ob- 
ture.  vious  in  those  works  which  exhibit  similar  bad  taste  in 
v the  general  composition.  The  triumphal  arch  of  Septimius 
Severus,  the  little  arch  of  the  goldsmiths,  and  the  half- 
buried  ruin  called  the  temple  of  Pallas,  in  the  forum  of 
Nerva  at  Rome,  are  egregious  specimens.  The  entabla- 
ture of  the  arch  of  Titus,  too,  is  overloaded  with  orna- 
ment. 

Frieze  enrichments,  consisting  of  foliage  composed  with 
animals,  and  a variety  of  other  things,  are  very  common 
in  Roman  architecture.  Many  specimens  indeed  are  not 
found  in  existing  structures,  hut  there  are  numerous 
fragments  of  entablatures  of  destroyed  edifices  which  ex- 
hibit them  in  great  variety.  Their  general  character  is 
exuberance,  and  a tendency  to  frittering,  from  the  variety 
and  incoherence  of  form  in  their  composition  ; but  their 
effect  can  only  fairly  be  judged  of  when  seen  in  appro- 
priate situations.  One  existing  example  of  an  enriched 
frieze  of  the  kind  referred  to,  that  of  the  temple  of  Anto- 
ninus and  Faustina,  speaks  strongly  in  its  favour,  for  nothing 
can  surpass  its  efficiency  and  simple  beauty;  but  it  must, 
moreover,  be  confessed  that,  when  examined  in  detail, 
the  enrichment  is  less  exuberant,  and  is  composed  of 
fewer  parts,  than  most  others  of  the  species  to  which  that 
example  belongs.  Architectural  ornament,  however,  is 
not  confined  to  purely  architectural  works.  We  find  many 
beautiful  specimens  of  it  on  the  vases  and  candelabra 
which  decorated  the  baths  and  mansions  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  and  whose  elegance  of  form  rivals  even  the 
beauty  and  delicacy  of  their  enrichments.  Whether  these 
should  be  referred  or  not  to  the  Romans,  is  doubtful ; for 
it  has  been  already  intimated,  from  the  style  of  many  of 
them,  both  in  outline  and  ornament,  which  appertain  more 
to  the  Greek,  that  they  are  the  productions  of  Grecian 
artists;  but  indeed  they  belong  exactly  to  neither,  for  they 
frequently  possess  the  beauties,  and  sometimes  exhibit  the 
defects,  of  both.  There  are  existing  works,  too,  clearly 
of  Roman  origin,  and  far  inferior  in  every  respect  to  the 
things  just  quoted.  These  are  for  the  most  part  ceno- 
taphial  monuments,  sarcophagi,  and  altars,  whose  compo- 
sition, details,  and  enrichments,  are  gross  and  inelegant 
when  compared  with  the  objects  alluded  to.  The  dif- 
ference may  arise  merely  from  the  inferiority  of  the  artists 
of  the  one  to  those  of  the  other,  and  not  from  the  difference 
of  their  schools ; but  the  prevalence  of  Greek  taste  in  the 
superior  productions  is  not  the  less  striking  because  it 
was  acquired  by  education,  while  it  is  wanting  in  the  in- 
ferior, whose  authors  had  not  been  imbued  with  the  spirit 
and  fine  feeling  of  the  Greek  style. 

Of  Italian  Architecture. 

Gothic  architecture, — that  is,  the  style  which  preceded 
the  Pointed, — being  for  the  most  part  a mere  deterioration 
of  Roman,  and  possessing  no  peculiar  character  which 
can  recommend  it  as  a subject  for  study  and  imitation 
that  may  not  be  deduced  from  the  Roman  style,  and 
Pointed  architecture  being  a genus  per  se,  we  have 
thought  it  better  to  allow  the  Italian,  or  revived  Roman 
style,  to  usurp  its  chronological  place ; as  the  latter  more 
naturally  follows  what  it  pretends  to  be  derived  from,  than 
it  would  follow  the  Pointed,  or  than  the  Pointed  would 
the  Roman. 

We  have  already  stated  that  Italian  architecture, 
though  professedly  a revival  of  the  classical  styles  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  was  formed  without  reference  to  the 
existing  specimens  of  either,  but  on  the  dogmas  of  an  ob- 
scure Roman  author,  and  the  glosses  of  the  “ revivers” 
on  his  text.  Vitruvius  described  four  classes  or  orders 
of  columnar  composition;  and,  on  the  principles  which  go- 


verned him  in  subjecting  to  fixed  laws  all  the  varieties  Italian 
with  which  he  appears  to  have  been  acquainted,  they  form-  Architec- 
ed  a fifth,  of  a medley  of  two  of  his,  thus  completing  tu”^, 
the  Italian  orders  of  architecture.  The  school  which 
was  founded  on  the  Vitruvian  theories  has  systematized 
every  thing,  and  laid  down  lav/s  for  collocating  and  pro- 
portioning all  the  matter  it  furnishes  for  architectural 
composition  and  decoration.  It  teaches  that  columns 
are  modelled  from  the  human  figure;  that  the  Tuscan 
column  is  like  a sturdy  labourer — a rustic ; the  Doric 
is  somewhat  trimmer,  though  equally  masculine — a gen- 
tleman, perhaps;  the  Ionic  is  a sedate  matron;  the  Co- 
rinthian a lascivious  courtesan ; and  the  Composite  an 
amalgam  of  the  two  last ! In  a composition  which  admits 
any  two  or  more  of  them,  the  rustic  must  take  the  lowest 
place  ; on  his  head  stands  the  stately  Doric,  who  in  his 
turn  bears  the  comely  matron,  on  whose  head  is  placed 
the  wanton,  and  the  wanton  again  is  made  to  support  the 
lady  of  doubtful  character  ! But  as  we  in  this  place  are 
neither  apologists  for  nor  impugners  of  any  particular  doc- 
trines, we  proceed  at  once  to  point  out  the  general  fea- 
tures of  the  Italian  style ; premising  only,  that,  according 
to  the  practice  of  the  school,  every  thing  is  confined 
to  an  exclusive  use  and  appropriation ; such  columns  may 
be  fluted,  and  such  must  not ; such  a moulding  may  be 
used  here,  but  not  there ; and  so  on.  The  proportions  and 
arrangements  of  an  order,  of  any  part  of  one,  or  of  any 
thing  that  may  come  within  an  architectural  composition, 
are  fixed  and  unchangeable,  whatever  may  be  the  purpose 
or  situation  for  which  it  is  required;  whether,  for  instance, 
an  order  be  attached  or  insulate,  the  column  must  have 
exactly  the  same  number  of  modules  and  minutes  in 
height.  It  is  true  that  the  masters  of  the  school  are  not 
agreed  among  themselves  as  to  those  things  in  which  they 
are  not  bound  by  Vitruvius;  but  every  one  not  the  less 
contends  for  the  principle,  each,  of  course,  prescribing 
his  own  doctrine  as  orthodox  on  the  unsettled  points. 

Mouldings  are  considered  as  constituent  parts  of  an  or- 
der, and  are  limited  to  eight  in  number,  strangely  enough 
including  the  fillet.  They  are  the  cyma-recta,  cyma-re- 
versa,  commonly  called  the  ogive  or  ogee,  the  ovalo,  the 
torus,  the  astragal  or  bead,  the  cavetto,  the  scotia,  and 
the  fillet.  They  are  gathered  from  the  Roman  remains, 
but  reduced  to  regular  lines  or  curves,  which  may  be 
drawn  with  a rule  or  struck  with  a pair  of  compasses. 

Arranged  according  to  certain  proportions,  with  flat  sur- 
faces, modillions,  and  dentils,  a profile  is  formed ; no  two 
conjoined  mouldings  maybe  enriched,  but  their  ornaments, 
as  well  as  the  modillions  and  dentils,  must  be  disposed  so 
as  to  fall  regularly  under  one  another,  and,  when  columns 
occur,  above  the  middle  of  them. 

An  order  is  said  to  be  composed  of  two  principal  parts,  PI-  LXVI. 
the  column  and  the  entablature  ; these  are  divided  into 
base,  shaft,  and  capital,  in  the  one,  and  architrave,  frieze, 
and  cornice  in  the  other,  and  are  variously  subdivided  in 
the  different  orders.  The  Tuscan  column  must  be  made 
seven  diameters  in  height,  the  Doric  eight,  the  Ionic 
nine,  and  the  Corinthian  and  Composite  ten.  The  height 
of  the  entablature,  according  to  some  authorities,  should 
be  one  fourth  the  height  of  the  column,  and,  according  to 
others,  two  of  its  diameters.  The  parts  of  the  entablature 
of  all  but  the  Doric  may  be  divided  into  ten  equal  parts, 
four  of  which  are  given  to  the  cornice,  three  to  the  frieze, 
and  three  to  the  architrave ; and  in  the  Doric,  the  entab- 
lature being  divided  into  eight  parts,  three  must  be  given 
to  the  cornice,  three  to  the  frieze,  and  the  remaining  two 
to  the  architrave.  For  the  minor  divisions  a diameter  of 
the  column  is  made  into  a scale  of  sixty  minutes,  by 
which  they  are  arranged ; but  this  is  obviously  irrelevant 
if  the  whole  height  of  the  entablature  is  determined  by 


ARCHIT 

Italian  the  height  of  the  column,  and  not  by  its  diameter ; in  this 
Architec-  case,  therefore,  they  must  be  proportioned  from  the  ge- 
, |'ure]_i,  neral  divisions  already  ascertained.  Columns  must  be 
diminished,  according  to  Vitruvius,  more  or  less  as  their 
altitude  is  greater  or  less ; those  of  fifteen  feet  high,  or 
thereabout,  being  made  one  sixth  less  at  their  superior 
than  at  their  inferior  diameter,  and  that  proportion  is 
lessened  gradually,  so  that  columns  fifty  feet  high  shall 
be  diminished  one  eighth  only.  On  this  subject,  however, 
many  of  his  disciples  controvert  the  authority  of  their 
master ; and  some  of  them  have  fixed  the  diminution  at 
one  sixth  of  a diameter  for  columns  of  all  sizes  in  all  the 
orders.  The  entasis  of  columns  is  disputed  also,  some 
authorities  making  it  consist  in  preserving  the  cylinder 
perfect  one  quarter  or  one  third  the  height  of  the  shaft 
from  below,  and  thence  diminishing  in  a right  line  to  the 
top ; while  others,  following  Vitruvius,  make  the  column 
increase  in  bulk  in  a curved  line  from  the  base  to  three 
sevenths  of  its  height,  and  then  diminish  in  the  same 
manner  for  the  remaining  four  sevenths,  thus  making  the 
greatest  diameter  near  the  middle. 

It  being  difficult  to  determine  among  the  masters  of 
the  Italo-Vitruvian  school  whose  designs  of  the  various 
orders  are  to  be  preferred,  we  have  selected  those  of 
Palladio,  certainly  not  for  any  superior  merit  they  possess, 
but  because  he  is  more  generally  esteemed  than  any  other, 
and  because  he  the  most  strictly  adhered,  as  far  as  he 
could  understand  them,  to  the  precepts  of  Vitruvius. 
It  should  be  remarked,  however,  that  although  Palladio 
has  fluted  all  but  the  shaft  of  the  Tuscan  column,  he 
very  seldom  fluted  columns  in  his  own  practice ; and 
indeed  it  may  be  called  the  custom  of  the  Italian  school 
not  to  flute,  how  much  soever  their  doctrine  may  be  to 
the  contrary;  for  fluted  columns  in  Italian  architecture 
are  exceptions  to  the  general  practice.  Swelled  or  pil- 
lowed friezes  are  not  peculiar  to  Palladio  ; they  are  more 
or  less  common  to  the  works  of  most  of  the  masters 
of  the  same  school.  Prostyles  being  almost  unknown 
in  Italian  architecture,  antae  are  not  often  required ; 
but  when  they  are,  the  meanest  succedaneum  imagin- 
Pl.  LXX.  able  is  recurred  to.  Of  this,  Palladio’s  Villa  Capra,  near 
Fig.  3.  Vicenza,  and  Lord  Burlington’s  Palladian  Villa  at  Chis- 
wick, afford  striking  examples.  Pilasters,  however,  are 
very  common,  so  common,  indeed,  that  they  may  be  call- 
ed pro-columns,  as  they  are  often  used  as  an  apology  for 
applying  an  entablature.  They  are  described  as  differing 
from  columns  in  their  plan  only,  the  latter  being  round, 
and  the  former  square  ; for  they  are  composed  with  bases 
and  capitals,  they  are  made  to  support  entablatures  ac- 
cording to  the  order  to  which  they  belong,  and  are  fluted 
and  diminished  with  or  without  entasis,  just  as  columns  of 
the  same  style  would  be.  When  they  are  fluted,  the  flutes 
are  limited  to  seven  in  number  on  the  face,  which,  it  is  said, 
makes  them  nearly  correspond  with  the  flutes  of  columns; 

, and  their  projection  must  be  one  eighth  of  their  diameter 
or  width  when  the  returns  are  not  fluted  ; but  if  they  are, 
a fillet  must  come  against  the  wall.  Pedestals  are  not  con- 
sidered by  the  Italo-Vitruvian  school  as  belonging  to  the 
orders,  but  they  may  be  employed  with  them  all,  and 
have  bases  and  surbases  or  cornices  to  correspond  with 
the  order  with  which  they  may  be  associated.  The  dado 
of  a pedestal  must  be  a square  whose  side  shall  be  equal 
to  that  of  the  plinth  of  the  column  or  pilaster  which  rests 
on  it,  or  a parallelogram  a sixth  or  even  a fourth  of  a dia- 
meter taller.  The  intercolumniations  of  columns  are  call- 
ed pycnostyle,  systyle,  eustyle,  diastyle,  and  araeostyle, 
and  are  strictly  adhered  to  in  Italian  architecture  when 
columns  are  insulated,  and  that  is  not  very  often  ; when 
they  are  attached,  the  interspaces  are  not  limited,  except 
when  a peculiar  arrangement  called  arasosystyle  is  adopt* 


E C T U R E.  49 

ed.  This  consists  of  two  systyle  intercolumniations,  the  Italian 
column  that  should  stand  in  the  mid-distance  between  two  Arehitec- 
others  being  placed  within  half  a diameter  of  one  of  them, , ^ure- 
making  in  fact  coupled  columns  or  pilasters.  It  is  applied 
to  insulated  columns  as  well  as  to  those  which  are  attach- 
ed. Following  Vitruvius,  the  Italian  school  makes  the  cen- 
tral intercolumniation  of  a portico  wider  than  any  of  the 
others.  Arched  openings,  in  arcades  or  otherwise,  are  Plate 
generally  about  twice  their  width  in  height;  if,  however, LX VII. 
they  are  arranged  with  a columnar  ordinance,  having  co- 
lumns against  the  piers,  they  are  made  to  partake  of  the 
order  to  which  the  columns  belong,  being  lower  in  propor- 
tion to  their  width  with  the  Tuscan  than  with  the  Doric, 
and  so  on ; and  the  piers  are  allowed  to  vary  in  the  same 
manner,  from  two  fifths  to  one  half  of  the  opening.  With  Fig.  11  & 
columnar  arrangements,  moulded  imposts  and  archivolts  12. 
are  used ; the  former  being  made  rather  more  than  a semi- 
diameter of  the  engaged  columns  in  height,  and  the  latter 
exactly  that  proportion.  Variously  moulded  key-stones 
are  used,  too,  projecting  so  that  they  give  an  appearance  of 
support  to  the  superimposed  entablature.  Smaller  columns  Fig.  12. 
with  their  entablature  are  sometimes  made  to  do  the  duty 
of  imposts,  and  sometimes  single  columns  are  similarly  ap- 
plied ; at  others,  columns  in  couples  are  allowed  to  stand  for  Fig.  in. 
piers  to  carry  arches.  In  plain  arcades  the  masonry  is  gene-  Fig.  13. 
rally  rusticated,  without  any  other  projection  than  a plain 
blocking  course  for  an  impost,  and  a blocking  course  or  cor- 
nice crowning  the  ordinance.  Niches  and  other  recesses 
are  at  times  introduced  in  the  plain  piers,  which  are  in  that 
case  considerably  wider  than  usual,  or  in  the  spandrels  over 
rvide  piers.  Very  considerable  variety  is  allowed  in  these 
combinations,  which  will  be  best  understood  by  reference 
to  the  examples.  Doors  and  windows,  whether  arched  or 
square,  follow  nearly  the  same  proportions,  being  made,  in 
rustic  stories,  generally  rather  less  than  twice  their  width 
in  height,  and  in  others  either  exactly  of  that  proportion, 
or  an  eighth  or  a tenth  more.  If  they  have  columned  or 
pilastered  frontispieces,  these  are  sometimes  pedimented ; 
and,  except  in  rustic  stories,  whether  with  or  without 
columns,  a plain  or  moulded  lining  called  an  architrave  is 
applied  to  the  head  and  sides  of  a door  or  window.  This 
architrave  is  made  from  one  sixth  to  one  eighth  the  width 
of  the  opening  it  bounds,  and  it  rests  on  a blocking  course 
or  other  sill,  as  the  case  may  be.  In  the  absence  of 
columns  or  pilasters  in  the  frontispiece,  their  place  is  fre-Fig.2&4, 
quently  supplied  by  consols  or  trusses  of  various  form  and  and  Plate 
arrangement,  backed  out  by  a narrow  pilaster,  which  may^XX. 
be  considered  as  the  return  of  the  frieze  of  the  entablature,  * 
and  supporting  the  cornice.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  the 
architrave  lilting  to  project  knees  at  the  upper  angles, 
and  this  is  sometimes  done  even  with  consols  and  their 
pilasters.  With  columned  frontispieces  to  gateways,  doors, 
and  windows,  arose  the  custom,  so  frequent  in  Italian 
architecture,  of  rusticating  columns,  by  making  them 
alternately  square  and  cylindrical,  according  to  the  heights 
of  the  courses  of  rustic  masonry  to  which  they  are  gene- 
rally attached,  and  with  which  they  are  less  offensive  than 
in  other  collocations.  The  practice  of  the  Cinquecento 
school  of  piling  columns  on  columns,  with  their  accessories, 
is  warranted  by  the  doctrine  of  its  master ; but  his  pre- 
cepts not  being  practicable,  recourse  has  been  had  to  the 
inferior  works  of  the  Romans,  which  present  examples  ofPlate 
it.  The  difficulty  of  preserving  any  thing  like  a rational  LX  IV. 
arrangement  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands  to  be  great,  ifFl§- 
not  insurmountable  ; for  if  the  first  or  lowest  order  be  at 
an  intercolumniation  fitting  its  proportions,  the  second  or 
next  above  it,  though  diminished  ever  so  little,  is  already 
deranged,  for  it  has  the  same  distance  from  column  to 
column  that  the  inferior  order  has,  whilst  the  columns 
themselves  are  smaller  in  diameter,  and  their  entablature 


50  ARCHITECT  IJ  R E. 


Italian  consequently  shallower.  This  derangement  must  of  course 
Architec-  increase  with  every  succeeding  ordinance,  rendering  it 
. turf'  indeed  impossible  to  make  such  a composition  consistent. 

The  most  approved  practice  in  arranging  order  above  order 
appears  to  be,  that  the  upper  column  shall  take  for  its  dia- 
meter the  superior  diameter  of  the  one  below  it;  that 
when  the  columns  are  detached  their  axes  shall  be  in  the 
same  perpendicular  line  ; but  when  attached  or  engaged, 
the  plinth  of  the  pedestal  of  the  upper  shall  impend  the 
top  of  the  shaft  of  the  lower  column.  The  most  rational 
mode,  however,  for  diminishing,  if  reason  can  be  applied  to 
such  compositions,  is  to  carry  the  diminution  through,  the 
outlines  of  the  columns  of  the  lowest  order  being  drawn 
up  in  the  same  direction,  and  so  the  columns  of  every 
story  would  take  up  their  place  and  be  diminished  in  re- 
Pl.  LXX.  gular  gradation.  When  columns  are  attached,  or  pilasters 
Fig.  2.  used,  in  Italian  architecture,  the  almost  invariable  custom 
is  to  break  the  entablature  over  every  column  or  pilaster, 
Pl.LXIX.  or  over  every  two  when  they  are  in  couples.  Because  of 
the  great  length  of  the  intercolumniation,  it  would  appear 
to  have  been  done  at  first ; but  it  has  frequently  been  done 
by  some  of  the  most  esteemed  practitioners  of  the  school, 
even  without  that  excuse,  so  that  it  may  be  held  as  approv- 
ed by  them.  A basement  is  either  a low  stereobate  or  a 
lofty  story,  as  it  may  be  intended  to  support  a single  ordi- 
nance the  whole  height  of  the  main  body  of  the  structure, 
or  indeed  the  lowest  of  two  or  more  orders ; or  as  it  may 
occupy  the  ground  story  of  a building,  and  support  an 
ordinance,  or  the  appearance  of  one,  above.  In  either 
case,  much  is  necessarily  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
architect ; but  in  the  latter  the  height  of  the  order  it  is  to 
support  is  the  generally  prescribed  height  of  the  base- 
ment. A basement  may  be  rusticated  or  plain;  if  it  be 
low,  and  is  not  arranged  like  a continued  pedestal,  it 
must  have  neither  cornice  nor  blocking  course  ; but  if 
lofty,  a deep,  bold,  blocking  course  is  indispensable.  An 
attic  may  vary  in  height  from  one  quarter  to  one  third  the 
height  of  the  order  it  surmounts ; attics  are  arranged  with 
a base,  dado,  and  coping  cornice,  like  pedestals,  and  gene- 
rally have  pilasters  broken  over  the  columns  below.  The 
rule  for  the  form,  composition,  and  application  of  pedi- 
ments in  Italian  architecture,  if  it  may  be  gathered  from 
the  practice  of  the  school,  appears  to  be  to  set  good  taste 
at  defiance  in  them  all.  We  find  pediments  of  every  shape, 
composed  of  cornices,  busts,  scrolls,  festoons,  and  what  not, 
and  applied  in  every  situation,  and  even  one  within  another, 
to  the  number  of  three  or  four,  and  each  of  these  of  differ- 
ent form  and  various  composition.  The  proportion  laid 
down  for  the  height  of  a pediment  is  from  one  fourth  to 
one  fifth  the  length  of  its  base,  or  the  cornice  on  which  it 
is  to  rest.  Balustrades  are  used  in  various  situations,  but 
their  most  common  application  is  in  attics  or  as  parapets, 
on  the  summits  of  buildings,  before  windows,  in  otherwise 
close  continued  stereobates,  to  flank  flights  of  steps,  to 
front  terraces,  or  flank  bridges.  Their  shapes  and  propor- 
tions are  even  more  diversified  than  their  application  : that 
of  most  frequent  use  is  shaped  like  an  Italian  Doric 
column,  compressed  to  a dwarfish  stature,  and  consequent- 
ly swollen  in  the  shaft  to  an  inordinate  bulk  in  the  lower 
part,  and  having  its  capital,  to  the  hypotrachelium,  revers- 
ed to  form  a base  to  receive  its  grotesque  form.  The  base 
and  coping  cornice  of  a balustrade  are  those  of  an  ordinary 
attic,  or  of  a pedestal  whose  dado  may  be  pierced  into 
balusters.  The  general  external  proportions  of  an  edifice, 
when  they  are  not  determined  by  single  columnar  ordi- 
nances, appear  to  be  unsettled.  The  grand  front  of  the 
PL  LXX.  Farnese  Palace  in  Rome  is  in  two  squares,  its  length  being 
Fig-  L twice  its  height ; the  length  of  each  front  of  Vignola’s 
celebrated  pentagonal  palace  of  Caprarola  is  twice  and  a 
quarter  its  height  above  the  bastions.  In  Palladio’s  works 


we  find  the  proportions  of  fronts  to  vary  so  considerably,  Pointed 
as  to  make  it  evident  that  he  did  not  consider  himself  Architec- 
bound  by  any  rule  on  that  point.  In  some  cases  we  find  ture* 
the  length  to  be  once  and  one  sixth  the  height,  in  others 
once  and  a fourth,  once  and  a half,  twice,  twice  and  a 
sixth,  and  even  three  and  a sixth  ; and  elevations  by  other 
masters  of  the  school  are  found  to  vary  to  the  same  ex- 
tent. The  proportions  of  rooms,  again,  range  from  one  to 
two  cubes  inclusive,  though  it  is  preferred  that  the  height 
should  be  a sixth,  or  even  a fifth  less  than  a side  when  the 
plan  is  a square ; but  the  sesquialteral  form,  with  the 
height  equal  to  the  breadth,  and  the  length  one  half  more, 
is  considered  the  most  perfect  proportion  for  a room. 

There  is  considerable  variety  and  beauty  in  the  foliate 
and  other  enrichments  of  an  architectural  character  in 
many  structures  in  Italy,  but  very  little  ornament  enters 
into  the  columnar  composition  of  Italian  architecture. 

Friezes,  instead  of  being  sculptured,  are  swollen ; the  shafts 
of  columns,  it  has  been  already  remarked,  are  very  seldom 
fluted,  and  their  capitals  are  generally  poor  in  the  extreme ; 
mouldings  are  indeed  sometimes  carved,  but  not  often ; 
rustic  masonry,  ill-formed  festoons,  and  gouty  balustrades, 
for  the  most  part  supply  the  place  of  chaste  and  classic 
ornaments.  This  refers  more  particularly  to  the  more 
classic  works  of  the  school;  in  many  of  the  earlier  Trecento 
structures  of  Italy,  and  on  monuments  of  various  kinds, 
we  find  what  may  be  called  a graceful  profusion  of  orna- 
ment, of  the  most  tasteful  and  elegant  kind  ; few  carved 
mouldings,  however,  and  very  few  well-profiled  cornices, 
are  to  be  met  with  in  Italian  compositions  of  any  kind.  In 
many  of  the  later  architectural  works  of  that  country  we 
find  again  a profusion  of  ornament  of  the  most  tasteless 
and  inelegant  description,  chiefly  in  the  gross  and  vulgar 
style,  which  is  distinguished  as  that  of  Louis  XIV.  of 
France. 

Of  Pointed  Architecture. 

There  are  so  many  varieties  of  this  beautiful  style,  and 
the  variations  are  at  the  same  time  so  considerable  and 
so  minute,  that  it  is  impossible  to  describe  it  generally. 

Every  country  in  which  it  was  practised  had  some  pecu- 
liarities in  its  composition,  and,  to  develope  it  perfectly, 
all  of  them  should  be  pointed  out.  This,  however,  would 
far  exceed  our  limits ; and  as  the  specimens  of  our  own 
are  not  excelled,  if  indeed  they  are  equalled,  by  those  of 
any  other  country,  a consideration  of  the  style  as  exhi- 
bited by  them  will  afford  us  a better  opportunity  of  de- 
veloping it  than  could  be  obtained  by  making  our  obser- 
vations more  general. 

Various  classifications  of  Pointed  architecture  have 
been  made,  and  in  almost  all  of  them  the  arch  is  con- 
sidered the  index,  as  the  column  is  in  columnar  architec- 
ture ; for,  like  that,  it  is  more  expressive  of  variety  than 
any  other  feature  in  the  composition  to  which  each  be- 
longs. These,  too,  form  the  grand  distinctions  between 
the  Greek  and  its  derivative  styles,  and  the  Pointed;  but, 
independently  of  the  column  in  the  one  and  the  arch  in 
the  other,  the  two  species  of  architecture  may  be  said  each 
to  have  certain  governing  principles,  which  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguish and  make  it  impossible  to  mould  them  together 
in  one  composition,  and  almost  to  apply  any  of  the  lead- 
ing forms  of  the  one  to  the  other.  They  may  be  thus 
generally  laid  down.  In  Greek  and  Roman  architecture 
the  general  running  lines  are  horizontal,  as  in  entabla- 
tures and  single  cornices.  In  Pointed,  the  general  run- 
ning lines  are  vertical.  In  the  former,  arches  are  not  ne- 
cessary to  a composition ; in  the  latter,  arches  are  a really 
fundamental  principle.  In  Greek  and  Roman,  again, 
columns  require  an  entablature ; in  the  Pointed  style  no 
such  thing  as  an  entablature  composed  of  parts  is  appli- 


ture. 


7,  8,  & 9. 


A R C H I T 

Pointed  cable  to  the  pillars,  columns,  or  shafts.  ( Vide  Rickman’s 
Architec-  Attempt , &c.  p.  110.) 

These,  however,  only  determine  the  generic  differences 
which  exist ; the  varieties  in  the  former  style  we  have 
found  to  be  marked  by  such  and  such  distinctive  features 
in  the  columns  and  their  accessories,  which  allowed  them 
to  be  divided  into  orders.  In  the  latter  the  varieties  arise 
chronologically,  and,  consisting  for  the  most  part  in  the 
forms  and  arrangements  of  details,  are  not  incoherent; 
nor  are  certain  proportions  either  fixed  or  determinable, 
and  consequently  they  cannot  be  rendered  into  orders. 

It  has  been  customary,  in  treating  of  Pointed  architec- 
ture, to  class  with  it  the  Saxon  and  Norman  Gothic  styles. 
This  is  at  least  unnecessary,  as  they  have  no  direct  rela- 
tion to  it,  except  that  of  immediate  precedence  in  point 
of  time,  and  that  the  one  was  the  stock  on  which  the 
other  was  grafted.  The  peculiarities  of  Pointed  archi- 
tecture are  indeed  totally  independent  of  those  of  its  pre- 
decessor the  Gothic ; nevertheless  we  should  hardly  be 
excused  for  passing  over  the  latter  in  total  silence. 

According  to  the  best  authorities,  there  are  very  few 
specimens  of  architecture  now  in  existence  in  this  coun- 
try which  can  properly  be  called  Saxon,  that  is,  of  a date 
anterior  to  the  Conquest,  and  not  of  Roman  origin ; and 
those  few  are  of  the  rudest  and  most  inferior  description. 
Saxon,  therefore,  as  far  as  the  architecture  of  this  coun- 
try is  concerned,  is  an  improper  term.  All  the  ancient 
structures  which  are  distinguished  by  the  semicircular 
PI.  LXXI.  arch  may  be  called  Anglo  or  Anglo-Norman  Gothic.  It 
Pig-  b 2,  consists  principally  of  massive  columnar  piers  supporting 
a.  <t. C,  semicircular  arches,  similarly  arched  doors  and  windows, 
and  arches  on  small  columns  in  relief,  against  a dead  wall, 
to  ornament  it.  The  pier  when  round  has  a rude  foliate 
or  rounded  capital,  and  generally  a moulded  base,  and  is  va- 
riously ornamented  on  the  surface,  being  altogether  a rude 
resemblance  of  the  columns  of  Roman  architecture ; it  is 
at  times  polygonal,  and  sometimes  piers  consist  of  clusters 
of  small  round  shafts.  In  doors  and  windows  thin  columns 
with  rude  capitals  and  bases  frequently  receive  the  mould- 
ings of  the  arch ; and,  when  the  opening  is  divided,  they 
are  placed  like  mullions,  to  support  the  inner  arches. 
There  are  examples  of  this  style  which  are  quite  plain 
in  every  particular ; but  it  is  generally  enriched  by  deep 
congeries  of  mouldings  on  the  arches,  and,  when  there 
are  no  columns,  running  down  the  jambs  of  doors.  These 
are  again  frequently  carved,  and  mostly  with  the  zigzag 
or  chevron  ornament : grotesque  masks,  and  rude  repre- 
sentations of  animals,  foliage,  and  flowers,  form  also  com- 
mon enrichments  in  Anglo-Gothic  architecture. 

This  style  prevailed  down  to  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  of 
England,  when  the  pointed  arch  made  its  appearance.  A 
degree  of  impressive  grandeur  pervades  its  productions, 
notwithstanding  their  clumsiness,  arising  from  the  great 
simplicity  of  manner  and  massiveness  of  proportion  by 
which  it  is  distinguished.  The  best  existing  specimens 
in  London  are  the  vestibule  of  the  Inner  Temple  church, 
which,  moreover,  exemplifies  the  transition ; many  parts 
of  the  church  of  St  Bartholomew  in  Smithfield,  and  the 
chapel  of  the  Tower  of  London.  Exemplifications  of  the 
style  are  also  to  be  found  in  the  interiors  of  Norwich, 
Chichester,  Gloucester,  Canterbury,  Worcester,  Roches- 
ter, Winchester,  Durham,  Peterborough,  Oxford,  and  Here- 
ford Cathedrals.  According  to  Mr  Rickman,  the  naves 
of  Peterborough  and  Rochester  are  the  most  unmixed 
specimens.  Parts,  which  are  easily  distinguished,  of  the 
exteriors  of  many  of  the  same  edifices,  portions  of  Lin- 
coln, and  the  towers  of  Exeter  Cathedrals,  Bigod’s  Tower 
at  Norwich,  and  the  White  Tower  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don, afford  characteristic  external  examples  of  the  Anglo- 
Gothic  style.  The  most  striking  castellated  remains  are 


E C T U R E.  51 

those  of  Rochester  in  Kent,  Hedingham  in  Essex,  Conis-  Pointed 
brough  in  Yorkshire,  and  Guildford  in  Surrey.  Many  Architec- 
minor  edifices,  principally  ecclesiastical,  exist  in  almost  ^ure' 
every  county  in  Great  Britain.  Mr  Rickman  remarks 
two  specimens  of  this  style  as  peculiarly  deserving  of 
attention;  the  one  in  the  vestibule  or  entrance  of  the 
chapter-house  at  Bristol,  and  the  other  in  the  staircase 
leading  to  the  registry  of  Canterbury  Cathedral ; the  for- 
mer for  its  simplicity  and  beauty  of  composition,  and  the 
latter  for  its  singularity,  and  as  exhibiting  a very  fine 
specimen  of  enrichment.  The  roofs,  or  ceilings  rather, 
of  the  Anglo-Gothic  edifices,  were  mostly  of  wood;  but 
there  are  various  examples  of  stone-groined  ceilings  to  be 
found  in  crypts,  which  appertain  to  this  style.  Spires 
were  unknown  ; there  are,  however,  turrets  crowned  with 
large  pinnacles  of  a date  anterior  to  the  introduction  of 
the  pointed  arch,  as  in  Rochester  Cathedral,  and  the 
Church  of  St  Peter  in  the  East  at  Oxford.  Towers  were 
not  uncommon ; they  are  square  massive  structures,  ris- 
ing to  no  great  height  above  the  roof  of  the  buildings  to 
which  they  are  attached.  It  may  be  remarked  in  addi- 
tion, that  many  of  our  ancient  structures  retain  the  circu- 
lar-headed or  Anglo-Gothic  door,  when  all  the  rest  has 
been  removed,  and  replaced  by  work  of  a later  date. 

Architects  and  antiquaries  have  generally  agreed  in 
dividing  Pointed  architecture  into  three  styles  of  three 
succeeding  periods.  The  first  commences  with  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  pointed  arch,  and  the  formation  of  the 
style  or  manner  which  accompanies  it,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  twelfth  century,  the  time  of  Henry  II.  of  Eng- 
land ; the  second  arose  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Edward  I., 
and  was  itself  superseded  before  that  century  closed,  about 
the  time  of  Richard  the  II.,  by  the  third  style,  which  is 
the  latest,  for  with  it,  on  the  introduction  of  the  Cinque- 
cento , Pointed  architecture  ceased  to  exist.  A difficulty 
arises  in  appropriately  naming  these  three  styles,  for  on 
that  point  there  is  no  degree  of  accordance  among  those 
who  are  best  qualified  to  be  considered  as  authorities. 

Mr  Rickman  calls  the  first  the  “ Early  English”  style, 
the  second  the  “ Decorated  English,”  and  the  third  the 
“ Perpendicular  English ;”  to  all  of  which  terms  Mr  Brit- 
ton objects,  and,  without  giving  appellations,  except  to 
the  first,  which  he  calls  the  “ Lancet  Order  of  Pointed 
Architecture,”  suggests  that  the  second  might  be  named 
with  propriety  the  “ Triangular  Arched,”  and  the  third 
the  “ Obtuse  Arched.”  Objecting  strongly  to  the  term 
“ Order,”  used  by  Mr  Britton,  we  think  with  him  that 
the  first  might  be  appropriately  called  the  “ Lancet  Arch” 
style ; but  bis  other  distinctions  are  certainly  not  more 
defensible  than  Mr  Rickman’s.  In  the  absence,  there- 
fore, of  unobjectionable  distinctive  terms,  as  the  varieties 
arise  chronologically,  we  will  speak  of  them  as  Periods. 

Of  the  First  Period  of  Pointed  Architecture. 

Mr  Rickman  describes  this  style  as  being  distinguished  Plate 
by  pointed  arches,  and  long  narrow  windows  without  LXXII. 
mullions,  and  a peculiar  ornament,  which,  from  its  resem-  Flg-  1 • 
blance  to  the  teeth  of  a shark,  he  calls  the  toothed  orna- 
ment. There  is  very  considerable  variety  in  the  forms 
and  proportions  of  its  different  examples,  as  they  retain 
the  massive  character  of  the  Anglo-Gothic,  or  tend  to  the 
more  florid  style  of  the  next  period.  In  the  former  the  PI. LXXI. 
sharp  lancet  arch  is  found  at  times,  in  a series  of  its  nar-  Fig-  12. 
row  windows,  with  rude  piers  between  them,  occupying 
the  place  of  the  precedent  large  circular-headed  opening; 
and  in  other  places  springing  from  the  round  columnarpiers  Fig.  1 1 & 
of  the  former  period.  In  its  more  advanced  works  we13> 
find  the  same  long  narrow  window  systematically  arranged,  j 

singly  or  triply,  with  light  clustered  columns,  against  the  jjjk ” j 


52 


A R C H IT  EC  T URE. 


Pointed  piers  which  divide  them,  receiving  the  deep  congeries  of 
Architec-  mouldings  which  forms  the  archivolt.  Its  columned  pier, 
^^too,  consists  of  clustered  shafts,  generally  on  a round  core, 
and  always  forming  cylindrical  masses,  girded  at  different 
heights  with  slight  rings  or  belts  of  mouldings.  Their 
PI.  LXXI.  capitals  consist  for  the  most  part  of  congeries  of  mould- 
ing- 14.  ings  following  the  form  of  the  shafts,  though  rich  and 
LXXIII  ^ovver'n§  capitals  are  not  uncommon.  Moulded  bases, 

‘ too,  are  generally  used,  not  dissimilar  in  form  to  what  is 
called  the  attic  base  of  Italian  architecture. 

The  lancet  arch  is  described  from  two  centres  about  an 
acute-angled  isosceles  triangle  in  the  line  of  its  base,  with 
a radius  equal  to  twice  and  one  third  (in  some  cases  more, 
and  in  some  less)  the  length  of  that  base,  or  of  the  span 
the  arch  is  to  embrace.  This,  though  the  ordinary,  is  not, 
however,  the  universal  form  of  the  arch  in  the  first  period  ; 
but  the  absence  of  mullions,  and  in  general  of  tracery, 
may  almost  be  considered  a criterion : yet  foliations  or 
featherings  are  not  uncommon,  especially  in  doors,  and  as 
enrichments  to  flat  surfaces,  though  every  thing  of  the 
kind  certainly  indicates  an  approach  to  the  style  of  the 
succeeding  period.  Ribs  on  the  angles  formed  by  the  in- 
tersections of  arches  in  groined  ceilings,  not  in  ramified 
tracery,  but  with  bosses  at  their  apices  alone,  appertain  to 
works  of  the  first  period.  These  ribs  sometimes  spring 
from  corbels,  and  sometimes  from  the  heads  of  slight 
shafts,  which  may  run  uninterruptedly  from  the  floor  to 
the  springing  of  the  arched  ceiling,  against  the  walls  or 
against  the  columnar  piers;  and  a small  cornice  or  tablet 
continuing  round  them,  runs  along  horizontally  to  sepa- 
rate the  vertical  from  the  vaulted  surface.  Buttresses  in 
Plate  general,  of  various  forms,  sometimes  in  diminishing  stages 

LX XI I.  and  sometimes  upright,  with  acutely  gabled  heads  with- 
I'ig-  out  crockets,  but  having  finials — and  flying  buttresses  in 
particular — belong  to  this  style.  The  tablets  or  cornices, 
mouldings,  ornaments,  and  the  variety  and  arrangement 
of  niches,  must  be  gathered  from  examples.  The  parapet 
or  battlement  is  straight  and  uninterrupted,  and  is  either 
plain  or  ornamented  with  series  of  arches  or  panels  with 
foliations.  Turrets  are  in  some  cases  square,  in  others  oc- 
tagonal ; but  the  pinnacles  which  surmount  them  are  al- 
most always  of  the  latter  form,  and  plain  or  crocheted,  as 
the  work  may  be  more  or  less  ornate.  Towers,  in  the 
style  of  this  period,  were  generally  made  to  receive  that 
beautiful  characteristic  of  Pointed  architecture,  the  spire. 
This,  in  the  best  examples,  is  octagonal  in  its  plan,  and 
of  pyramidal  elevation,  running  to  a point,  or  nearly  so, 
under  an  angle  of  about  12°,  the  angle  at  the  base  being 
consequently  84°.  In  some  cases  the  spire  is  richly  crochet- 
ed like  the  pinnacles;  but  whether  plain  or  crocheted,  it 
is  surmounted  by  a bold  finial. 

The  most  perfect  structure  in  this  style  throughout  is 
Salisbury  Cathedral,  which,  unlike  any  other  Pointed  cathe- 
dral in  England,  except  perhaps  that  of  Bath,  was  begun 
and  finished  in  the  same  manner;  and  so  excellent  an 
example  is  it,  that  it  has  been  proposed  to  call  the  style 
of  the  period  the  Salisbury  style.  Not  inferior  in  merit, 
and  hardly  less  perfect  a model  of  the  same,  is  Beverley 
Minster.  That  which  is  of  later  date  in  it  is  easily  dis- 
tinguishable ; and  being  confined  to  particular  parts,  it 
hardly  interferes  with  the  unity  of  the  composition.  The 
transepts  of  York  Minster  are  also  of  the  first  period,  and 
so  is  a great  part  of  Westminster  Abbey.  The  fronts  of 
Ely,  Lincoln,  and  Peterborough  Cathedrals  exhibit  good 
specimens  of  it.  Indeed  there  is  hardly  one  of  all  our 
Pointed  cathedrals  which  does  not  partake  of  this  style 
in  a greater  or  less  degree.  It  will  be  most  generally 
found  interwoven  with  and  superimposing  the  Anglo- 
Gothic  where  that  exists,  and  inferior  to,  when  in  con- 
nection with,  works  of  a later  period.  Many  of  the  mo- 


nastic structures  with  which  this  country  abounds  pre-  Pointed 
sent  very  beautiful  specimens  of  this  style  also.  Among  Architec - 
other  excellent  examples  of  it  may  be  particularized  the  , • 

chapter-houses  of  Lincoln  and  Lichfield.  Those  beauti- 
ful  monuments  which  the  affection  of  Edward  I.  induced 
him  to  raise  to  the  memory  of  his  wife,  called  the  Crosses 
of  Queen  Eleanor,  are  in  the  style  of  the  first  period, 
though  they  verge  on  that  of  the  second,  and  indeed  mark 
the  transition  which  took  place  in  the  latter  part  of  that 
king’s  reign. 

Of  the  Second  Period  of  Pointed  Architecture. 

The  style  of  this  period,  which  is  thought  by  many  to 
be  the  classic  age  of  Pointed  Architecture,  is  described 
by  Mr  Rickman  as  being  distinguished  “ by  its  large  win- 
dows, which  have  pointed  arches  divided  by  mullions,  and 
the  tracery  in  flowing  lines  forming  circles,  arches,  and 
other  figures,  not  running  perpendicularly;  its  ornaments 
numerous  and  very  delicately  carved.”  Mr  Britton  says 
that  “ during  this  period  the  Pointed  style  received  its 
greatest  improvements  ;”  and  that,  limiting  it  to  the  time 
of  Edward  III.,  “ the  form  of  the  arch  then  principally 
in  vogue  admitted  of  an  equilatei'al  triangle  being  pre- 
cisely inscribed  between  the  crowning  point  of  the  arch 
and  its  points  of  springing  at  the  imposts.”  The  mullions  of 
this  style  clearly  result  from  the  slender  shafts  which  were 
used  in  that  of  the  first  period  against  the  piers  dividing 
a number  of  windows.  The  piers  being  removed,  it  be- 
came necessary  that  an  arch  should  be  turned  from  side 
to  side,  leaving  a space  to  be  filled  up  in  the  head  above 
the  smaller  arches.  This  was  done  by  repeating  and  con- 
tinuing their  contours,  and  connecting  them  by  gracefully 
flowing  lines  and  foliations.  It  is  indeed  but  an  extension  Plate 
of  the  former;  for  in  some  of  the  early  examples  theLXXII. 
mullions  are  thin  columnar  shafts  having  capitals  and^‘§,2&3* 
bases,  and  the  head  of  the  arch  is  generally  filled  up  with 
regular  figures,  such  as  foliated  circles,  leaving  spandrels 
or  triangular  circular-sided  spaces  in  various  parts.  It  is 
in  the  more  advanced  works  of  this  period  that  the  tracery  Fig.  4 & 5, 


run  through,  and  for  the  most  part  without  the  inter- 
vention of  any  horizontal  mouldings  at  the  impost  or 
springing  of  the  arch.  Besides  the  ordinary  covering 
cornice  or  drip-stone  following  the  form  of  the  arch,  we 
find  a moulded  cornice,  generally  arranged  pediment-wise, 
embracing  a window  or  door,  having  crockets  and  finials, 
and  resting  on  corbels,  which  are  almost  always  masks. 

This  may  be  called  an  attached  canopy.  The  columnar  Plate 
piers  of  this  period  are  nearly  square  in  plan,  and  areLXXIIl. 
placed  diagonally.  They  are  sometimes  composed  ofFlS‘ 
clustered  shafts,  and  sometimes  of  shafts  separated  by 
deep  hollows.  Their  capitals  are  either  moulded  simply 
in  rather  a deep  congeries,  or  with  woven  foliage  under  a 
moulded  abacus.  Their  bases  are  a diminishing  series  of 
bold  mouldings,  supported  generally  by  a vertical-faced 
octagonal  plinth.  The  shafts  which  support  the  ribs  of 
the  roof  or  ceiling  tracery,  in  the  finest  examples  of  this 
style,  spring  from  rich  and  bold  corbels  in  the  angles  of  the 
arches,  or  the  spandrels,  immediately  above  the  piers.  The 
groining  ribs  do  not  adhere  to  the  angles  of  the  groins  mere- 
ly, but  are  set  more  profusely  to  form  tracery ; and  rich  bosses 
are  put  at  every  intersection.  Buttresses  of  the  second  pe- 
riod are  exceedingly  various : on  angles  they  are  mostly  set 
diagonally.  They  either  diminish  gradually  in  heights  or  Plate 
stories,  and  finish  under  the  cornice,  or  they  run  through  LXXI  V. 
and  are  surmounted  by  pinnacles.  In  some  cases  the  sets- 1 ^ l- 
off  in  diminishing  are  made  simply  with  an  inclined  shelf; 
in  others  every  set-off  is  formed  with  a pediment  properly 


becomes  what  may  be  truly  called  flowing.  The  mullionand  1 lats 
is  angular  and  moulded,  and  the  mouldings  run  all  through  t,!j  j 1 ' 
the  composition ; the  jamb  or  architrave  mouldings  also 


ARCHITECTURE, 


53 


Pointed  enriched,  and  the  face  of  the  buttress  is  generally  orna- 
Architec-  mented  with  blank  tracery  in  panels  or  niches.  Flying 
' Ulre-  buttresses  in  this  style  are  also  more  ornate  than  those  of 

' the  preceding;  indeed  in  this  they  became  ornaments, 

whereas  in  the  former  they  appear  to  have  been  kept  out 
of  sight  as  much  as  possible.  Parapets  are  either  pierced 
or  embattled,  and  a similar  variety  is  maintained  in  pedi- 
ments. Pinnacles  are  generally  square,  but  they  stand 
diagonally  with  regard  to  the  turret  or  buttress  on  which 
they  are  placed,  their  angles  resting  on  the  apices  of  the 
pediments  which  surmount  the  faces  of  the  substructure. 
These  pinnacles  are  richly  ornamented  with  crockets  and 
finials.  Spires  are  less  common  in  the  more  extensive 
works  of  this  period  than  in  the  precedent ; but  in  those 
of  minor  importance  they  are  frequent,  differing  little, 
however,  from  the  same  object  in  works  of  the  first  period, 
except  in  being  more  highly  enriched.  Towers  are  richly 
pinnacled;  but  the  pinnacles  rest  for  the  most  part  on 
small  turrets  rising  from  the  angles  of  the  tower  itself, 
and  seldom  from  projecting  turrets  or  from  the  heads  of 
buttresses,  which  latter  are  generally  found  to  die  away 
below  the  cornice.  The  details  and  enrichments  of  this 
style  are  too  curious  and  complicated  for  verbal  descrip- 
tion, but  they  may  be  gathered  from  the  examples. 

We  possess  no  one  complete  cathedral  of  the  second 
period,  but  almost  all  our  larger  Pointed  structures  pre- 
sent specimens  of  it  in  a greater  or  less  degree.  Except- 
ing perhaps  the  upper  story  or  belfries  of  the  towers  of 
York  Minster,  which  are  of  the  third  period,  its  west 
front  is  a model  for  this  style,  and  it  presents  specimens 
of  almost  all  its  external  peculiarities.  The  nave  of  the 
same  edifice,  and  the  interior  of  Exeter  Cathedral,  are 
perhaps  the  finest  examples  of  the  second  period.  The 
latter  edifice,  indeed,  has  the  reputation  of  presenting  a 
greater  and  more  pleasing  variety  of  tracery  than  any 
other  of  the  same  style.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
cathedrals  of  Lincoln  and  Ely,  both  of  which  contain  much 
that  is  valuable.  Next  to  these  cathedrals  may  be  placed 
Beverley  Minster,  which  is  not  only  a mine  of  beauty  of 
the  first,  but  it  presents  many  exquisite  specimens  of  this 
period  also.  The  steeple  of  St  Mary’s  Church,  Oxford, 
is  a fine  example  in  this  style  of  the  combination  of  tower 
and  spire.  Many  minor  works  in  England,  and  several 
in  Scotland,  are  excellent;  particularly  much  of  what  re- 
mains of  the  High  Church,  Edinburgh,  much  of  the  re- 
mains of  Elgin  Cathedral,  and  the  largest  portion  of  those 
of  Melrose  Abbey,  which,  it  would  appear,  was  not  ex- 
celled, when  perfect,  by  any  thing  in  the  kingdom. 


Plate 
LXXIV. 
Fig.  1. 


Of  the  Third  Period  of  Pointed  Architecture. 

This  is  that  period  of  the  style  commonly  known  as 
florid  Gothic.  The  first  authority  quoted  with  regard  to 
the  styles  of  the  two  preceding  periods  calls  it  the  Per- 
, pendicular  English,  and  says  that  this  name  clearly  desig- 
nates it ; “ for  the  mullions  of  the  windows  and  the  orna- 
mental panellings  run  in  perpendicular  lines,  and  form  a 
complete  distinction  from  the  last  style.”  Mr  Britton, 
however,  insists  that  the  term  perpendicular,  though  per- 
haps proper  enough,  if  the  style  could  be  sufficiently  dis- 
tinguished by  the  mullions  of  the  windows  and  the  up- 
right forms  and  continuity  of  the  panelling  over  entire 
surfaces,  “ gives  no  idea  of  the  increased  expansion  of  the 
windows,  nor  of  the  gorgeous  fan-like  tracery  of  the  vault- 
ings, nor  of  the  heraldic  description  of  the  enrichments 
which  peculiarly  distinguished  this  period;  neither  does 
it  convey  any  information  of  the  horizontal  lines  of  the 
door-ways,  nor  of  the  embattled  transoms  of  the  windows, 
nor  of  the  vast  pendents  that  constitute  such  important 
features  in  the  third  division.”  Although  windows  with 
tracery  in  them  may  be  determined  as  belonging  to  this 


period,  by  the  perpendicular  and  parallel  lines  found  in  the  Pointed 
head  or  arch,  and  by  the  use  of  transoms  to  divide  the  Architec- 
bays  into  heights,  yet  the  presence  of  a window  of 
kind  does  nothing  towards  fixing  the  style  of  the  edifice  p]ate 
generally  to  which  it  may  belong ; for  in  hundreds  of  cases  LXXII. 
this  sort  of  window  will  be  found  where  it  is  the  only  Fig.  6. 
specimen  of  its  age  or  style  in  the  structure.  Other  points 
must  therefore  be  attended  to. 

The  simpler  arches  of  this  style  are,  like  those  of  the  pre- 
ceding periods,  struck  from  two  centres  only ; the  two  sides 
or  halves  of  the  arch  are  similar  segments  of  a circle  whose  Plate 
radius  in  this  case  is  about  three  fourths  the  width  of  theLXXV. 
opening.  Others  are  segments  of  ellipses,  and  are  of  course  Fig-  l. 
struck  from  four  centres ; but  some  are  eccentric  curves, 
which  may  be  drawn,  but  cannot  be  described.  Many  of 
both  the  latter  descriptions  are  extremely  flat  or  depressed, 
the  angle  at  their  apex  being  very  obtuse.  The  ogee  or  con-  Fig.  8 & 11. 
trasted  arch  is  also  found  in  works  of  this  period,  but  this 
is  more  common  in  internal  tracery  than  in  external  form. 

The  modes  of  arranging  tracery  must  be  gathered  from 
examples,  for  they  possess  no  degree  of  regularity  to  ren- 
der it  possible  to  describe  them  generally  in  words.  Mul- 
lions are  richly  moulded,  and  so  are  the  architraves  of 
both  doors  end  windows ; the  deep  congeries  of  mould- 
ings forming  architraves  are  not  intercepted  by  horizontal 
or  impost  mouldings,  but  run  through  from  the  head  down 
the  sides  or  legs.  The  angular  or  pedimented  canopy  to  Plate 
an  arched  opening  in  the  style  of  the  second  period  as- LXXIV. 
sumes  in  this  the  form  of  a contrasted  arch  ; it  is  corbell-Fig-  1. 
ed  and  enriched  with  crockets  and  finials  as  in  that.  Doors, 
however,  in  this  style  are  peculiar,  because  whatever  the-pjate 
form  of  the  arched  head  may  be,  it  is  inscribed  in  a square  LXXV. 
frame  or  canopy,  the  spandrels  being  variously  enriched.  Fig.  1. 
Columnar  piers  of  this  period  are  of  almost  para! lelogramic  Fig-  4. 
form,  thinner  in  the  direction  of  the  arches,  and  generally 
plain  on  the  longer  sides,  but  deeply  moulded  and  running 
to  a thin  shaft  on  the  outer  edges.  These  mouldings  are 
those  which  enrich  the  arch,  there  being  no  capital  of  any 
kind  to  intercept  them,  so  that  they  run,  as  in  windows 
and  doors,  all  round  the  opening.  To  this,  however,  there 
are  exceptions.  The  thin  shaft  which  is  formed  on  the 
outer  edge  of  the  pier  continues  through  from  floor  to 
ceiling,  to  receive  the  groining  ribs  ; and  it  has  a thin  con- 
geries of  mouldings  at  either  end  to  form  base  and  capi- 
tal. The  tracery  of  the  ribs  of  groined  ceilings  of  this 
period  is  most  profuse,  and  beyond  description  intricate. 

To  this  also  belongs  the  absurdity  called  basket  groining, 
in  which  the  arches  are  made  to  spring  on  one  of  their 
sides  from  a pendent  mass,  which,  though  rich  and  gor- 
geous in  appearance,  threatens  constant  ruin.  Corner 
buttresses  standing  diagonally  are  not  so  common  in  this 
as  in  the  preceding  style  : in  form,  however,  they  are  not 
dissimilar,  excepting  that  the  sets-off  are  plain  moulded 
slopes  for  the  most  part,  instead  of  having  pedimented  or 
triangular  vertical  heads,  as  in  that.  Flying  buttresses 
are,  like  the  style  generally,  very  much  enriched,  and  are 
very  commonly  used.  Parapets  are  variously  arranged ; 
indeed  they  embrace  almost  every  peculiarity,  being  either 
plain,  panelled,  pierced,  or  embattled ; and  each  of  the 
latter  modes  is  effected  by  different  means.  Pinnacles  inFig.8&lL 
this  style  are  generally  square,  but  there  are  examples 
of  them  having  a greater  number  than  four  sides;  in  the  Fig.  1. 
former  and  most  usual  case  they  are  sometimes  placed 
with  their  sides  parallel  to  those  of  their  pedestals,  and 
sometimes  diagonally : they  are  of  course  in  every  case 
highly  enriched  with  crockets  and  finials.  Spires  of  this 
are  hardly  distinguishable  from  those  of  the  preceding 
period;  and  towers,  of  which  there  are  innumerable  spe- 
cimens, may  be  known  by  the  construction  of  their  but- 
tresses, and  by  the  arrangement  of  the  tracery  ip  the  heads 


54  ARC  H ITECTURE. 


Pointed  of'  their  windows,  as  the  windows  of  towers  are  generally 
Architec-  contemporaneous  with  that  story,  or  stage  of  it  at  least, 
ture.  t()  they  belong.  Octagonal  or  otherwise  polygonal 

' turrets  at  the  angles  of  buildings  are  not  uncommon,  and 

they  generally  finish  with  an  embattled  parapet.  The 
pedestals  which  support  the  pinnacles  on  the  angles  of 
towers,  and  at  the  heads  of  buttresses,  seldom  have  pedi- 
mented  faces,  as  in  the  preceding  period,  but  finish  with  a 
corbelled  battlement,  and  not  unfrequently  send  up  minor 
turrets  and  pinnacles  from  its  angles. 

In  the  more  ornate  works  of  this  style  the  enrichment 
of  flat  surfaces  is  carried  to  great  excess,  and  it  is  gene- 
rally effected  by  means  of  panelling.  Niches  with  their 
canopies,  tabernacles,  screens,  and  stalls,  exhibit  the  most 
exuberant  profusion  of  ornament,  for  the  most  part  effect- 
ed in  this  manner;  but  we  find,  besides,  a considerable 
variety  of  ornaments,  foliate  and  heraldic ; of  the  former 
the  Tudor  flower,  which  is  a combination  of  the  roses,  is 
pleasingly  predominant. 

The  only  one  of  the  cathedrals  entirely  of  this  period 
is  that  of  Bath  ; but  being  generally  inferior  in  merit 
to  many  other  examples,  it  need  not  be  cited.  Many  of 
the  cathedrals,  however,  have  large  portions  in  this  style, 
which  can  hardly  be  mistaken  if  the  form  of  the  arches, 
the  arrangement  of  the  tracery,  and  the  mode  of  enrich- 
ment, be  attended  to.  The  finest  west  fronts  to  any  of 
them  are  possessed  by  those  of  Gloucester,  Winchester, 
m and  Chester ; but  that  of  Beverley  Minster  is  by  far  the 
most  perfect  and  most  classic  specimen  in  existence,  if  we 
Plate  except  the  front  of  Westminster  Hall,  which  is  also  of 
LXXV.  surpassing  merit,  and  is  moreover  a classic  exemplification 
f'g-  *•  of  most  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  style.  Taken  as  sepa- 
rate edifices,  the  chapels  of  St  George  at  Windsor,  of 
Henry  VII.  at  Westminster,  and  of  King’s  College  at 
Cambridge,  are  the  most  complete,  as  they  are  entirely 
and  peculiarly  of  the  third  period.  The  central  towers 
of  the  archiepiscopal  fanes  of  Canterbury  and  York,  the 
tower  of  Gloucester  Cathedral,  that  of  Magdalene  College, 
Oxford,  Boston  Tower,  and  the  tower  of  St  Mary  Magda- 
lene at  Taunton,  are  singularly  excellent  examples  of  the 
style.  To  smaller  edifices,  those  of  Wrexham  and  Gres- 
ford  in  Wales,  and  of  St  Neot’s  in  Huntingdonshire,  are 
particularly  beautiful.  Of  steeples,  that  is,  towers  having 
spires  superimposed,  there  are  many  fine  specimens ; but 
the  most  perfect,  perhaps,  in  composition  are  those  of 
Bloxliam  in  Oxfordshire,  and  of  Louth  in  Lincolnshire:  the 
former  is  most  admirable  rather  in  general  than  in  detail. 
Many  of  the  monastic  ruins  throughout  the  country  pre- 
sent excellent  specimens  of  this  style  also ; indeed  it  is 
to  ecclesiastical  structures  we  must  look  for  architectural 
display  in  Pointed  architecture,  as  in  that  of  the  Egyptians, 
Greeks,  and  Romans.  We  have  just  specimens  enough 
existing  of  the  architecture  of  the  secular  structures  of 
our  ancestors  to  show  how  inferior  it  was  in  merit  to  that 
of  the  ecclesiastical ; and  if  the  castellated  mansions  of 
the  nobility,  and  the  palaces  of  the  sovereigns,  cannot  vie 
in  excellence  with  the  cloistered  cells  of  the  monks,  we 
may  be  well  assured  that  ordinary  domestic  architecture 
was  of  a still  more  inferior  cast. 

Elements  of  Beauty  in  Architecture. 

Simplicity  and  harmony  are  the  elements  of  beauty  in 
architecture ; simplicity  in  the  general  form  and  arrange- 
ment of  a subject,  and  harmony  in  the  collocation  and 
combination  of  its  various  parts.  Without  these  qualities 
a structure  can  never  possess  either  dignity  or  grace,  and 
with  them  it  will  certainly  possess  the  attractions  of  both. 
The  outline,  then,  most  conducive  to  beauty  in  architec- 
ture, is  that  which  bounds  the  most  simple  forms.  These 
are  the  parallelogramic  and  pyramidal,  in  which  the  lines 


are  straight  and  uninterrupted  throughout  their  whole  Beauty  in 
length.  The  ancient  monuments  of  Egypt,  of  Greece,  Architee- 
and  of  Rome,  offer  the  most  complete  exemplifications  of  v ture* 
this.  No  other  than  the  long,  unbroken  line  which  bounds 
the  temples  of  Egypt  could  produce  an  effect  so  grand ; PL  LVI. 
and  no  other  than  the  simple,  square,  and  pyramidal 
forms,  could  be  productive  of  so  much  dignity  as  they 
possess.  In  the  pyramids  and  obelisks  of  the  same  coun- 
try the  effect  of  this  simplicity  is  even  more  obvious.  In 
the  temples  of  Greece,  again,  the  same  dignified  simpli-  PI.  LIV. 
city  is  still  predominant;  for  although  in  them  the  paral- 
lelogram and  pyramid  are  combined,  they  are  not  con- 
fused ; their  mass  consisting  of  a parallelopipedon  whose" 
ends  are  surmounted  by  vertically  faced  pyramids,  con- 
nected by  an  unbroken  line  of  ridge  running  parallel  to 
the  horizontal  boundaries  of  the  sides.  Those  of  the  Ro- 
man monuments  which  are  deficient  in  simplicity  are  also 
deficient  in  beauty.  Such  are  the  triumphal  arches,  PL  LXIV 
whose  general  form  is  broken  by  columns  and  arches  Fig.  10  & 
which  subject  themselves  to  no  commanding  outline,  but11- 
are  all  at  the  same  time  prominent  features  of  and  ex- 
crescences from  the  general  composition.  In  the  temples 
which  are  on  the  Greek  model  it  is  not  so ; nor  is  it  so  in 
the  long  series  of  arches  in  the  Roman  aqueducts,  which 
are  crowned  and  connected  by  commanding  lines,  unim- 
peded by  projections  or  protuberances  of  any  kind.  The 
crucial  form  of  the  Pointed  cathedral  may  be  thought  to 
detract  somewhat  from  its  simplicity,  and  so  much  from 
its  beauty ; but  it  is  an  aggregation  of  simple  forms,  per- 
fectly coherent  with  the  tendency  of  the  leading  lines  in 
the  style,  which,  we  have  seen,  is  vertical ; and  the  lines  are 
therefore  not  broken  by  the  projected  masses  of  the  tran- 
septs, as  they  would  be  in  the  Egyptian  and  other  styles, 
the  tendency  of  whose  commanding  lines  is  horizontal. 
Otherwise  the  Pointed  cathedral  is  a modification  merely 
of  the  form  of  a Greek  temple,  with  other  parallelogramic 
forms  added  to  it,  as  towers,  or  pyramidal,  as  spires.  The 
same  principle  will  be  found  to  pervade  the  best  works  of 
the  Italian  school,  more  or  less  modified  according  to  its 
application. 

Next  to  the  straight  line  is  the  circular ; but  the  greater 
complexity  of  this  latter,  and  the  variety  of  which  it  is 
capable,  render  it  more  subtile,  and  for  the  most  part  less 
competent  to  produce  grand  and  impressive  effects,  ex- 
cept under  peculiar  circumstances  of  situation  and  combi- 
nation. A cupola  such  as  the  cupolas  of  St  Peter’s  atPLLXIX 
Rome  and  St  Paul’s  in  London,  if  placed  on  its  base  on 
the  ground,  or  even  on  a low  structure,  like  a large  bee- 
hive, would  be  not  merely  ineffective,  but  absolutely  ugly ; 
and  if,  in  the  situations  they  occupy,  the  cupolas  referred 
to  were  without  the  diminishing  pinnacles  above  them,  to 
bring  their  general  outlines  within  that  of  the  pyramid,  it 
is  a question  whether  they  would  possess  the  attractive 
beauty  they  now  do.  If  St  Paul’s  be  looked  at  in  the 
gray  twilight  of  morning  or  evening,  or  when  a mist  ren- 
ders its  form  indistinct,  the  impression  conveyed  by  the 
mass  is  that  of  a lofty  pyramid  or  cone,  rising  out  of  the 
substruction  which  the  cathedral  forms,  and  running  off 
to  a point  in  the  sky.  The  superstructure  of  St  Peter's 
is,  as  we  have  seen,  more  depressed,  and  less  perfectly 
formed  in  this  particular;  yet  nevertheless  it  maybe  sub- 
mitted to  the  same  test,  and  the  same  or  nearly  the 
same  result  will  follow.  Furthermore,  let  a hemisphere 
or  an  oblate  hemispheroid  be  supposed  in  the  place  of 
the  prolate  hemispheroid,  as  at  present,  and  this  reason- 
ing will  be  rendered  more  clear;  for  neither  of  those 
forms,  even  with  the  accessories  these  possess,  would  be 
as  beautiful ; and  without  them  they  would  be  ungainly 
deformities,  as  is  proved  by  that  example  on  the  new 
palace  in  London,  on  the  site  of  Buckingham  House. 


ARCHIT 

Beauty  in  The  cupola  of  the  London  University  exemplifies  this 
Architec-  point  also ; for  though  its  profile  is  elegant,  and  its  acces- 
, Ulre'  ; sories  are  generally  good,  the  composition  does  not  re- 
solve  itself  into  a simple  form,  and  the  result  is  far  from 
being  beautiful. 

When  the  circular  form  is  employed  cylindrically,  the 
utmost  simplicity  is  required  to  be  preserved  in  its  hori- 
zontal, as  well  as  in  its  vertical  lines,  or  the  result  will  be 
totally  devoid  of  all  architectural  beauty.  In  proof  of 
this,  let  the  broken  and  dentilled  columnar  ordinance 
which  surrounds  the  tholobate  of  St  Peter’s  be  compared 
with  the  noble,  unbroken  peristyle  in  the  corresponding 
part  of  St  Paul’s.  In  the  former  the  cylindrical  mass  is 
studded  with  a series  of  minute  excrescences  of  coupled 
columns ; and  in  the  latter  it  forms  a grand,  beautiful,  and 
effective  compartment  of  the  composition. 

The  preceding  remarks  do  not  of  course  apply  to  the 
interior  of  a structure  in  the  same  manner ; for  although 
as  high  a degree  of  simplicity  is  required  internally  as  ex- 
ternally, similar  combinations  are  not  necessary,  nor  are 
they  indeed  always  available.  A spacious  concave,  of  what- 
ever form  its  profile  may  be,  so  that  its  plan  be  a perfect 
circle,  is  one  of  the  grandest  works  of  architecture,  and  at 
the  same  time  one  of  the  most  simple,  whether  it  occupy 
a compartment  of  the  structure  to  which  it  belongs,  as  in 
St  Peter’s  and  St  Paul’s,  or  cover  the  complete  edifice  to 
PI  LXIV.  which  it  appertains,  as  in  the  Pantheon  at  Rome.  In 
t 'g-  *t.  such  situations  it  is  indeed  almost  impossible  to  destroy 
its  inherent  simplicity ; and  being  unconnected  with  exter- 
nal circumstances,  it  requires  no  coherence  with  any  thing 
else,  being  as  independent  of  its  substructure  as  of  its  ex- 
ternal contour  for  effect.  Irregular  and  intricate  forms, 
however,  in  works  of  architecture,  whether  internally  or 
externally,  will  be  found  unpleasing.  Few  can  admire  the 
Fig.  1 & 2.  external  effect  of  the  Pantheon,  or  of  the  structure  in 
London  called  the  Colosseum,  which  has  been  subjected 
to  the  same  arrangement,  though  certain  features  in  both 
may  be  indisputably  good.  To  these  may  be  added  the 
church  in  Langham  Place,  London,  and  indeed  many 
others ; but  that  is  an  egregious  example  in  point.  The 
complication  of  straight  and  circular  in  their  composition, 
and  the  consequent  irregular  forms  and  undefined  out- 
lines, totally  destroy  both  simplicity  and  harmony.  The 
comparison  of  an  Egyptian  obelisk  with  a monumental 
column  of  the  same  relative  size  will  afford  the  strongest 
proof  of  the  superiority  the  more  simple  form  possesses 
over  the  more  complicate.  None,  however,  but  those  who 
have  visited  Rome,  in  which  city  alone  the  comparison 
can  properly  be  made,  can  duly  appreciate  this  evidence  ; 
but  London  furnishes  a contrast  almost  as  much  to  the 
purpose,  in  the  monument  on  Fish  Street  Hill,  and  the 
lofty  shot  tower  by  the  south-west  angle  of  Waterloo 
Bridge.  They  are  both  of  cylindrical  form;  but  the  one 
is  crowned  by  a square  abacus,  and  the  other  by  a bold 
cornice,  which  follows  its  own  outline.  The  greater  sim- 
plicity and  consequent  beauty  of  the  latter  is  such  as  to 
strike  the  most  unobservant. 

Not  only  in  general  form  and  outline  is  simplicity  ne- 
cessary to  beauty  in  architecture,  but  in  all  its  details, 
and  even  in  its  enrichments,  also.  In  exemplification  of 
this,  a Greek  entablature  may  be  compared  with  one  in 
the  Roman  style,  in  which  every  thing  is  sacrificed  to 
profuse  ornament;  and  the  style  of  ornament  in  the  latter 
may  again  with  equal  advantage  be  compared  with  that 
of  the  age  of  Louis  XIV.  of  F/ance.  In  the  arrangement 
of  the  parts  of  a composition,  as  well  as  in  the  composi- 
tion itself,  simplicity  is  essentially  necessary  to  the  beauty 
of  the  whole ; every  style  will  afford  exemplifications  of 
PI.  LIX.  this  also,  in  the  comparison  of  the  more  simple  with  the 
lig.  £>.  more  complicate  specimens  of  the  same.  Compare  the 


ECTURE.  53 

few  simple  and  well-defined  parts  of  a Grecian  Ionic  en-  Beauty  in 
tablature  with  a Roman  or  Italian  example  of  that  order:  Architec- 
in  the  latter  will  be  found  a complexity  and  straining  at  t , 

effect  not  at  all  consistent  with  beauty  and  dignity,  de-pj  ^ 
termining  the  comparison  much  in  favour  of  the  first; jV.  3. 
and  so  in  many  other  cases  which  might  be  cited.  Thatpi.  LXVX 
the  more  simple  arrangement  of  columns  at  equal  dis-Fig.  4. 
tances  is  superior  to  that  in  which  they  are  coupled  or 
placed  only  alternately  equidistant,  is  clear  from  the  fact 
that  the  latter  mode  was  first  proposed,  and  is  only  used 
to  obviate  difficulties,  and  not  from  choice,  except  in  the 
works  of  the  merest  pretenders. 

Harmony,  concord,  or  fitness — of  proportion,  of  form, 
of  one  part  of  a composition  to  another,  and  in  the  collo- 
cation of  the  various  enrichments  which  architecture  re- 
quires,— is  as  necessary  to  its  beauty  as  simplicity.  We  do 
not  speak  of  the  agreement  which  should  exist  between 
the  manner  or  character  of  a structure  and  its  application, 
for  that  is  purely  conventional,  and  totally  independent  of 
any  architectural  consideration.  The  merit  or  demerit 
of  a composition  is  not  at  all  affected  by  the  use  to  which 
the  edifice  is  applied;  neither  would  its  front  be  more 
tolerable,  nor  its  cupola  less  beautiful,  if  St  Peter’s  in 
Rome  were,  by  the  course  of  events,  to  become  a demo- 
cratic forum  instead  of  a papal  basilica ; nor  is  the  monu- 
ment of  London  a more  or  less  elegant  object,  whether  it 
be  understood  to  record  a triumph  or  a defeat — the  burn- 
ing of  the  city,  or  its  re-edification.  Harmony  in  archi- 
tecture is  that  agreement  which  exists  between  its  various 
parts,  as  in  the  relation  of  a column  to  its  entablature  and 
stylobate,  in  the  accordance  of  a cornice  with  the  eleva- 
tion it  crowns,  and  in  the  coherence  of  one  part  of  a com- 
position with  another.  It  is  that  which  exists  in  the  com- 
mon tendency  of  the  leading  lines  of  a structure ; and  it 
is  that  which  blends  the  straight  and  circular  in  enrich- 
ment or  decoration,  as  in  the  capital  of  an  Ionic  column 
whose  square  and  horizontal  form  is  harmoniously  adapted 
to  the  vertical  lines  and  cylindrical  form  of  the  shaft,  by 
the  intervention  of  the  volutes.  An  inharmonious  combi- 
nation arises  out  of  the  collocation  of  the  same  voluted 
capital  with  a pilaster  or  square  pier.  This  quality  re- 
quires a judicious  arrangement  of  ornament.  That  a cer- 
tain degree  of  enrichment  should  pervade  the  whole  of  a 
composition,  and  not  be  confined  to  one  part  of  it — for  in- 
stance a Corinthian  ordinance,  in  which  the  columns  are 
unfluted  and  the  entablature  is  quite  plain — is  inharmoni- 
ous ; for  the  capitals  being  masses  of  rich  foliage,  are 
spots,  having  nothing  to  connect  them  with  the  rest.  A 
degree  of  harmony  must  exist,  too,  between  the  solids  and 
vacuities  of  an  edifice.  An  Italian  portico,  with  its  thin 
and  straggling  columns,  is  an  inharmonious  object,  for  it 
conveys  an  idea  of  infirmity  and  poverty,  which  is  not  the 
case  with  one  proportioned  like  the  best  Greek  and  Ro- 
man examples.  In  the  front  of  a house,  windows  and  the 
piers  between  them  being  too  wide  or  too  narrow  will  af- 
fect its  character  in  this  respect.  The  comparative  size 
of  various  portions  of  the  same  composition,  though  they 
be  in  themselves  simple  and  harmonious,  may  be  such  that 
they  shall  not  be  so  in  combination.  The  portico  of  the 
London  University  is  of  almost  unequalled  magnificence 
and  beauty,  and  the  cupola  behind  and  above  it  is  of  elegant 
form,  though  deficient  in  another  particular,  as  we  have 
already  stated;  yet  they  do  not  harmonize — the  one  is  much 
too  large  for  the  other,  and  their  forms  are  incoherent. 

Thus  harmony  has  reference  to  comparative  magni- 
tude, strength,  decoration,  disposition,  and  proportion. 

To  acquire  a knowledge  of  all  these  sufficient  to  produce 
a worthy  result,  a long  course  of  study  and  careful  obser- 
vation are  necessary : but  such  can  only  be  necessary  to 
the  architect ; it  is  enough  for  the  general  student  to  be 


56  ARCH!  T E CTUR  E. 


Composi-  able  to  appreciate  them  when  present,  and  to  detect  their 
tionf  absence. 

' -l ' 

Principles  of  Architectural  Composition. 

These  must  be  different  in  the  widely  differing  species 
of  architecture,  whose  tendencies  in  the  one  are  to  hori- 
zontal or  depressed,  and  in  the  other  to  vertical  or  upright 
lines  and  forms;  the  former  including  all  those  varieties 
which  derive  from  the  Greek  and  Roman  modes  of  de- 
sign, or  columnar  and  circular-arched  architecture ; and 
the  latter  embracing  those  which  arise  out  of  the  pointed 
arch,  and  which  we  have  distinguished  by  the  term 
Pointed.  Except  in  the  elements  of  architectural  beauty, 
which  must  be  the  same  in  all  architectural  works,  there 
is  no  similarity  whatever  between  the  principles  which 
govern  composition  in  the  two  species.  Simplicity  of  form, 
and  harmony  between  the  parts,  are  as  essentially  neces- 
sary to  the  one  as  to  the  other ; but  instead  of  the  leading 
horizontal  lines  required  by  the  former,  the  latter  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  absence  of  commanding  lines  having 
that  tendency,  and  by  the  presence  of  strongly  marked 
lateral  projections  and  vertically  inclined  lines.  The  rec- 
tangular figure  formed  by  the  front  of  a Greek  temple, 
below  the  pediment,  rests  on  one  of  its  longer  sides  as  a 
base.  In  a Pointed  composition  that  order  is  reversed, 
and  one  of  the  shorter  sides  becomes  the  base  ; and  the 
pediment,  instead  of  being  a depressed  obtuse-angled  tri- 
angle, becomes  upright  and  acute-angled ; the  whole  mass, 
moreover,  follows  the  change  thus  described,  so  that  the 
same  figure,  a parallelopiped,  is  set  for  horizontal  or  ver- 
tical composition,  as  a larger  or  smaller  side  is  made  the 
base.  This  being  the  case,  it  will  be  necessary  to  treat 
of  them  separately;  for  rules  which  apply  to  the  one  are 
totally  inapplicable  to  the  other,  and  the  former,  being  of 
most  common  application,  may  be  taken  first.  We  shall 
quote  the  principles  which  appear  to  have  actuated  the 
Greek  and  Roman  architects  in  the  production  of  their 
best  works,  or  rather  the  principles  which  those  works  de- 
velope,  instead  of  citing  all  existing  ancient  works  as  au- 
thorities; and  determine  on  those  principles  how  to  pro- 
duce similar  results  in  cases  of  which  examples  do  not 
appear  in  ancient  practice.  In  the  same  manner,  we  must 
deduce  the  principles  for  general  composition  in  the 
Pointed  style,  from  those  which  appear  to  enter  into  its 
best  existing  works. 

Of  Horizontal  Composition. 

Every  thing  tending  to  break  the  continuity  of  the  lead- 
ing horizontal  lines  in  a composition  should  be  avoided. 
The  advantage  of  adhering  to  this,  and  the  disadvantage 
PI.  LXX.  resulting  from  the  breach  of  it,  are  clearly  exemplified  in 
P’g-  1-  the  front  of  the  Farnese  Palace,  and  in  the  flank  of  St 
PI.  LXIX.  Peter’s  at  Rome.  In  London,  too,  the  fronts  of  the  Ban- 
Fig-  2.  queting  House  at  Whitehall,  and  of  Somerset  House  to 
the  Strand,  offer  similar  exemplifications  of  the  principle; 
the  former  having  both  the  entablatures  and  the  stylobate 
of  the  upper  ordinance  broken  round  every  column,  which 
makes  the  ordinances  mere  excrescences,  and  the  latter  pre- 
serving the  leading  lines  continuous  and  unbroken  through- 
out, to  the  manifest  advantage  of  the  whole  composition. 
This  applies  equally  to  columned  and  arcaded  ordinances, 
and  to  compositions  in  which  neither  is  used;  and  it  is  as 
much  opposed  to  the  projection  of  masses  to  form  wings 
and  centres,  whether  shallow  or  deep,  as  to  the  breaking 
of  an  entablature  or  stylobate  round  one  or  two  columns. 
Sufficient  variety  of  light  and  shadow  is  attainable  with- 
out the  use  of  columnar  ordinances  at  all,  as  the  Farnese 
Palace  evinces.  But  if,  however,  it  be  required  to  give 
a greater  degree  of  importance  to  an  elevation  than  can 


be  attained  in  that  manner,  it  may  be  produced  without  Compcsi- 
either  attaching  or  insulating  columns  the  whole  extent,  tion- 
by  means  of  antae  and  recessed  compartments  with  co-'^~v-x^/ 
lumns  in  them,  as  on  either  side  of  the  gates  in  the  north 
or  Lothbury  front  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  on  the  flanks 
of  the  churches  of  St  Pancras  and  St  Martin  in  London  ; but 
a mere  pilastraded  ordinance,  or  pilasters  with  an  entabla- 
ture and  without  columns,  is  bald,  tasteless,  and  unmean- 
ing, as  the  front  of  Crockford’s  Club-house,  in  London 
also,  very  clearly  shows.  In  speaking  of  the  Italian  style, 
we  have  shown  the  injudiciousness  of  putting  order  above 
order,  because  of  the  impossibility  of  maintaining  a ra- 
tional arrangement  with  regard  to  diminution  and  inter- 
colunmiation.  We  made  that,  too,  an  objection  to  the  ele- 
vation of  the  Roman  Colosseum  ; but  the  practice  is  more-  PI.  LXI V. 
over  objectionable,  because  of  the  repetition  of  the  simi-Fig.  l. 
lar  parallel  lines  of  the  entablatures,  similarly  projected  too, 
which  destroy  the  breadth  a composition  should  possess  ; 
and  because  the  upper  and  crowning  cornice,  if  in  propor- 
tion to  its  own  ordinance,  must  be  disproportioned  to  the 
whole  elevation  which  takes  from  that  member  a charac- 
ter of  grandeur  or  meanness,  as  it  may  or  may  not  be  fit- 
ted to  its  whole  height.  This  is  made  very  evident  by 
the  opposed  fronts  of  the  United  Service  and  Athenaeum 
Club-houses  in  London,  the  former  of  which  is  finished 
by  the  thin  shelf-like  cornice  of  a second  order,  and  the 
latter  by  a bold  massive  crowning  cornice  in  the  style  of 
that  of  the  Farnese  Palace.  In  a similar  manner,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  the  practice  of  raising  lofty  basements 
to  support  columnar  ordinances  is  injudicious ; and  this 
detracts  much  from  the  merit  of  the  front  of  Somerset 
House  just  referred  to,  by  making  the  crowning  cornice  of 
less  importance  than  it  should  be.  In  St  Paul’s  this  fault 
is  partially  relieved  by  the  somewhat  exaggerated  size  of 
the  cornice  of  the  upper  order,  and  by  the  insertion  of 
cut  blocks,  in  the  manner  of  upright  modillions,  under  it 
the  whole  depth  of  the  frieze.  Nothing,  again,  should  be 
allowed  to  superimpose  a crowning  cornice,  except  what 
may  form  a part  of  itself,  as  antefixae ; where,  however, 
something  is  absolutely  necessary,  as  on  a bridge,  a close 
simple  parapet,  as  low  as  it  may  be  conveniently,  should 
be  resorted  to.  On  the  principle  first  developed,  porti- 
coes should  not  be  projected  from  the  front  of  a building, 
unless  they  occupy  the  whole  extent  of  it,  as  in  a Greek 
or  Roman  temple,  and  so  carry  the  horizontal  lines  unbro- 
ken to  the  flanks ; or  they  should  be  made  distinct  and 
independent  objects,  to  which  the  rest  of  the  composition 
may  be  subservient,  as  in  the  London  University.  A porti- 
co should  moreover  be  considerably  projected,  or  the  sur- 
face behind  it  recessed,  that  the  columns  may  have  a back- 
ground of  shadow,  otherwise  it  will  be  poor  and  inefficient. 

Of  this  the  Greek  temples  offer  a favourable  exemplifica- 
tion; and  most  of  our  churches,  and  other  modern  edifices 
which  have  porticoes  to  them,  prove  the  correctness  of  the 
principle  in  the  breach  of  it.  Exceptions  more  or  less 
favourable  certainly  exist,  whose  superior  merit  is  suffi- 
cient to  indicate  them.  A pediment  should  never  be  used 
unless  it  is  made  to  embrace  the  whole  of  the  end  or 
front  to  which  it  is  attached.  Numberless  absurdities 
have  arisen  in  Italian  architecture  from  the  injudicious 
application  of  this  form  ; so  general,  indeed,  is  it,  that 
the  fact  of  a pediment  existing  under  any  circumstance 
in  a work  of  that  style  is  almost  a sufficient  reason  for 
avoiding  a similar  use  of  it.  Nothing  is  more  difficult 
than  to  combine  straight  and  circular,  or  otherwise  bend- 
ing lines,  with  propriety  and  good  taste,  and  therefore 
their  collocation,  in  general  composition  particularly,  should 
be  seldom  attempted.  It  is  when  they  harshly  contrast, 
as  in  circular  pediments,  and  in  mixed  compositions  of 
columns  or  pilasters,  with  their  accessories,  and  arches  and 


ARCHIT 

Composi-  their  piers,  that  the  combination  is  bad ; but  not  so  in  tbe 
tion.  connection  of  the  arch  with  its  pier,  so  that  the  former 
be  semicircular  or  semielliptical,  and  not  smaller  segments, 
in  which  cases  they  fall  naturally  and  gracefully  together. 
The  incoherence  and  inelegance  of  contrasted  straight  and 
circular  forms  are  very  evident  in  the  New  Exchange  at 
Paris,  where  two  tiers  of  circular-headed  windows  are  seen 
within  a Corinthian  peristyle.  Circular  prostyles  or  cvr- 
toprostyles  should  be  avoided,  as  their  horizontal  lines 
cannot  be  made  to  harmonize  perfectly  with  any  form  to 
which  they  may  be  attached.  This  however  does  not  apply 
to  peristyles ; and  both  the  one  and  the  other  are  exempli- 
fied by  the  transept  porticoes  and  columned  tholobate  of 
St  Paul’s.  The  use  of  coupled  columns  is  so  absurd,  and 
they  are  confessedly  so  inelegant,  that  it  seems  almost 
unnecessary  to  proscribe  them.  Suppose  apertures,  such 
as  windows,  arranged  in  couples  throughout  an  elevation, 
with  very  narrow  and  very  wide  piers  alternating,  and  both 
tbe  absurdity  and  the  inelegance  become  manifest : now, 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can  be  either  lessened  or 
changed  by  reversing  the  case,  and  putting  alternately 
wide  and  narrow  openings,  as  in  coupled  columnar  ordi- 
nances. Columns  may  with  propriety  be  put  further  apart 
when  they  are  attached  than  when  they  are  insulated, 
because  the  entablature,  resting  in  part  on  the  wall,  is 
neither  in  fact  nor  in  appearance  made  infirm  by  tbe  dis- 
tension, as  it  would  be  if  it  rested  on  the  columns  alone. 
All  the  parts  of  the  same  edifice  which  come  into  view, 
under  any  circumstances  at  the  same  time,  should  corre- 
spond ; but  insulated  and  attached  columns  of  the  same 
ordinance  and  in  the  same  elevation  may,  under  certain 
circumstances,  without  impropriety  be  arranged  with  a dif- 
ferent intercolumniation. 

An  arcaded  ordinance  should  be  considered  as  only 
more  massive  than,  and  differently  shaped  from,  a colum- 
nar, and  may  therefore  be  governed  by  nearly  tbe  same 
principles.  A pier  is  but  a differently  shaped  and  more 
massive  column,  and  the  archivolt  but  a succedaneum 
for  the  architrave ; while  a bold  blocking  course,  or  a com- 
mensurate cornice  and  frieze,  as  the  composition  may  be 
more  or  less  ornate,  will  complete  the  ordinance.  Under 
this  view  nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  affix  columns 
or  pilasters  to  the  piers  of  an  arcade  to  support  an  enta- 
blature, and  certainly  nothing  can  be  more  inharmonious, 
from  the  contrast  which  arises,  as  we  have  just  remarked, 
between  the  rectangular  lines  of  the  latter,  and  the  in- 
scribed circular  lines  of  the  arch,  as  well  as  the  incon- 
gruity necessarily  attending  the  interspaces  of  the  columns. 

In  speaking  of  Greek  and  Roman  architecture,  we  have 
shown  why  columns  should,  and  why  anta;  and  pilasters 
should  not,  be  fluted ; and  have  shown  also,  that  a certain 
degree  of  richness  or  plainness  of  surface  should  pervade  a 
composition,  and  not  be  confined  to  particular  parts  of  it. 
It  will  now  be  enough  to  add,  that  in  composing,  lights 
and  shadows  should  not  be  scattered  on  a surface  as  they 
are  on  the  front  of  the  Banqueting  House,  by  broken  ordi- 
nances ; nor  should  either  be  too  much  narrowed,  as  the 
light  on  the  corona  of  a Roman  cornice  too  frequently  is, 
by  the  too  great  projection  of  the  cymatium.  It  will  be 
found,  moreover,  that  shadows  projected  horizontally  are 
more  in  coherence  with  the  horizontal  style  of  composi- 
tion, than  those  which  fall  laterally,  or  from  a vertically 
projecting  object. 

Columns,  8fc. — Tbe  proportions  of  the  columnar  orders 
will  be  best  sought  in  the  existing  examples  of  the  an- 
cients ; and  those  we  give  of  them  afford  sufficient  va- 
riety. What  is  deficient  in  one  may  be  made  up  from 
another;  and  what  appears  superfluous  in  one  example 
may  be  omitted,  as  its  omission  may  appear  beneficially 
to  affect  another.  The  Doric  may  be  adopted  from  the 


E C T U R E.  57 

Parthenon  or  the  temple  of  Theseus,  as  tbe  best  existing  Composi- 
models  of  the  order.  If  an  ungraduated  stylobate  be  tion- 
used,  which  should  be  avoided  if  possible,  it  should  not 
exceed  one  diameter  in  height.  The  intercolumniation  £ lyj]J 
should  not  exceed  one  triglyph,  as  in  the  Greek  temples, 
though  for  compositions  of  a generally  less  dignified  cha- 
racter it  may,  perhaps,  be  extended  to  two.  A good  mo- 
dern example  of  the  Doric  order,  in  a work  of  the  latter 
description,  may  be  seen  in  the  small  entrance  portico  to 
the  University  Club-house  in  London.  The  Ionic  example  PI.  LIX. 
from  the  Erechtheum,  which  we  have  given,  may  be 
used  as  a model  for  that  order,  with  the  same  restriction 
with  regard  to  the  stylobate  which  is  made  to  the  Doric. 
Additional  depth  may  with  advantage  be  allowed  to  the 
bed-mould  of  the  cornice,  and  it  may  be  effected  by  the 
insertion  of  a dentilled  member,  which  indeed  some  of 
the  ancient  Greek  (though  not  Athenian)  examples  pos- 
sess. The  intercolumniation  should  not  be  less  than  one 
diameter  and  a half,  nor  should  it  exceed  two  diameters. 

In  London  this  order  is  admirably  applied  in  tbe  front  of 
an  Episcopal  chapel  on  the  east  side  of  North  Audley 
Street ; and  this  particular  example  is  very  correctly  co- 
pied on  the  exterior  of  the  church  of  St  Pancras.  The  Pl.LXIII. 
great  inferiority  of  the  Roman  examples  of  the  Doric  and  Ex.  3 & 4 
Ionic  orders  is  too  evident  to  require  that  what  it  consists 
in  should  be  pointed  out,  and  they  are  the  models  of  the 
Italian.  The  Greek  example  of  the  Corinthian  order  PI.  LX. 
might  perhaps  be  improved  by  making  the  dentil  member  Fig-  3. 
of  the  cornice  a little  shallower,  by  projecting  the  corona 
rather  less,  and  by  correcting  the  form  of  some  of  the 
mouldings  of  the  entablature  generally.  If  the  columns 
be  used  in  a prostyle  or  other  insulate  position,  they  may 
with  advantage  be  made  half  a diameter  less  in  height ; 
and  the  intercolumniation  also  should  be  made  less  than 
it  appears  in  the  original,  where  the  columns  are  attached. 

This  example  has  been  well  executed  in  the  entrance  to 
the  Philadelpheion  or  Exeter  Hall,  in  the  Strand ; but  the 
pedestals  and  the  attic  are  blemishes  in  the  composition. 

Of  the  Roman  examples  of  this  order,  that  of  the  temple  PI.  LXII. 
of  Jupiter  Stator  is  certainly  the  best.  Its  greatest  faultFx.  1. 
is  the  too  great  magnitude  of  tbe  cornice,  of  which  every 
member,  except  tbe  corona,  might  advantageously  be  re- 
stricted one  tenth  of  its  height;  that  which  is  dentilled 
might  indeed  be  reduced  one  fifth.  The  projections  might 
also  be  diminished  in  the  same  proportion,  removing  the 
greater  diminution  of  one  fifth  in  this  particular  from  the 
dentilled  member  to  the  cymatium,  and  the  ovalo  under 
it,  both  of  which  project  by  far  too  much.  The  three  fas- 
cias  of  the  architrave  are  too  unequally  divided.  The 
lowest  may  be  made  as  wide  as  the  middle  one,  by  de- 
ducting their  difference  from  the  third  or  upper  one.  In 
the  Tivoli  example  the  architrave  is  too  shallow,  and  so  Ex. 
are  the  dentil  band  and  corona  of  the  cornice ; and  the 
cymatium  is  both  too  deep  and  too  much  projected.  The 
cornice  would  moreover  be  improved  by  denticulating  the 
dentil  band,  and  by  enriching  the  frieze  with  an  ornament 
less  coarse  and  less  massive.  If  this  example  be  used  in 
a generally  ornate  composition,  some  of  the  mouldings  of 
the  entablature  should  be  enriched.  The  parts  of  the 
entablature  of  the  temple  of  Antoninus  and  Faustina  are  Ex.  3. 
well  proportioned  to  each  other.  The  cornice  of  this  ex- 
ample would  be  improved  by  giving  additional  height  to 
the  dentil  band  at  the  expense  of  the  moulding  above  it, 
and  by  denticulating  it  also.  The  cymatium  is  rather  too 
shallow,  and  may  be  widened  out  of  the  moulding  under 
it;  and  both  should  be  restricted  in  their  projection  at 
least  one  fifth.  The  capital  of  this  example  is  poor,  and 
its  abacus  is  too  shallow.  The  shaft  requires  fluting,  and 
one  half  the  depth  of  the  upper  fillet  of  the  base  might  be 
added  with  advantage  to  the  tori  and  scotia.  The  cited 


58 


ARCHITECTURE, 


Composi-  example  from  the  portico  of  the  Pantheon  has,  like  the 
Aon.  last  mentioned,  the  parts  of  its  entablature  well  propor- 
tioned  to  each  other.  As  in  the  Jupiter  Stator  example, 
PL  LXII.  {fog  architrave  should  be  more  equally  divided.  The 
kx'  mouldings,  too,  separating  the  fascias,  should  be  made 
less  ; and  the  superior  moulding,  at  least  of  the  archi- 
trave, carved,  unless  the  frieze  were  enriched,  and  then  it 
would  not  be  necessary.  In  the  cornice  a fifth  or  sixth 
should  be  taken  from  every  member  of  the  bed-mould 
and  added  to  the  corona.  In  the  presence  of  modillions, 
however,  the  dentil  band  is  judiciously  kept  plain,  though 
the  moulding  below  it  would  be  better  if  enriched.  The 
capital  of  this  example  is  as  faulty  as  that  of  Antoninus 
and  Faustina,  and  in  the  same  particulars.  The  shaft  also 
requires  fluting,  and  the  base  might  with  advantage  be 
made  to  spread  more.  The  ordinance  of  the  temple  of 
Pl.LXIII.Mars  Ultor,  though  the  most  masculine,  is,  from  its  good 
Ex.  1.  proportions,  and  the  bold  character  of  its  foliage,  one  of 
the  most  excellent  of  the  Roman  Corinthian  examples. 
Most  of  the  entablature  being  supplied  from  a not  well 
authenticated  source,  may  not  be  original ; but  that  is  of 
no  consequence,  if  it  be  beautiful.  The  corona,  like  that 
member  in  most  Roman  entablatures,  wants  greater  depth  ; 
and  the  cymatium  perhaps  less,  and  certainly  less  projec- 
tion. In  this,  as  in  the  first-mentioned  Roman  example, 
with  modillions  there  are  dentils.  This  is  injudicious; 
the  member  would  be  better  plain,  as  in  the  Pantheon 
ordinance.  The  architrave,  which  is  authentic,  is  exceed- 
ingly well  proportioned,  and  the  column  is  fine  in  all  its 
parts.  These  examples  all  vary  in  their  intercolumnia- 
tion,  from  rather  less  than  one  diameter  and  a half  to  a 
fraction  more  than  two  diameters,  beyond  which  propor- 
tions, either  less  or  more,  it  would  not  be  well  to  go.  A 
stylobate  to  the  order  might  judiciously  be  adapted  from 
the  Greek ; for  the  stilted  effects  produced  by  insulated 
pedestals,  and  even  by  continuous  vertical  stylobates,  are 
injurious  to  the  general  appearance  of  a columnar  compo- 
sition ; and  the  thin  steps  in  common  use  detract  exceed- 
ingly from  its  beauty  under  any  circumstances. 

There  are  many  varieties  of  the  foliate  capital  which 
may  be  used  with  advantage  ; one  of  the  least  elegant, 
however,  is  that  which  assumes  the  distinction  of  being 
called  the  Composite  order.  The  example  of  it  from  the 
Ex.  2.  arch  of  Titus  is  one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best ; but  it 
will  be  seen,  on  comparison,  to  be  strikingly  inferior  to 
the  Corinthian  examples,  or  those  in  which  the  volutes 
of  the  capital  are  made  subservient  to  the  foliage,  instead 
of  being  distended  into  huge  mis-shapen  knobs.  The  en- 
tablature, too,  is  only  an  exaggerated  Corinthian.  If  it  be 
wished  to  use  foliate  capitals  differently  composed  from 
the  ordinary,  it  may  be  well  to  preserve  the  character 
and  proportions  of  the  entablature  the  same,  or  nearly  so. 
Under  any  circumstances,  however,  care  should  be  taken 
in  composing  an  entablature,  that  it  have  sufficient  height, 
and  yet  not  be  too  heavy ; that  it  be  sufficiently  divided, 
and  yet  not  frittered ; that  the  parts  have  sufficient 
breadth,  and  be  not  so  much  projected  as  to  bury  all 
that  is  below  them  in  shadow ; and  that  ornament  be  pro- 
perly distributed,  and  in  sufficient  quantity,  without  over- 
loading the  composition  with  it,  as  in  the  ordinance  of  the 
arch  of  Titus. 

If  again  it  be  wished,  under  any  circumstances  (though 
PI.  LX.  the  practice  cannot  be  recommended),  to  use  human 
Fig.  4. 5,  figures  as  columns,  there  appears  to  be  no  reason  why 
& the  entablature  should  be  executed  without  a frieze,  as  it 

is  in  the  example  of  the  Pandroseum ; and  if  a frieze  be 
inserted,  it  should  be  by  lessening  the  other  parts,  and 
not  by  increasing  the  whole,  as  that  entablature  (taking 
it  as  a model)  is  quite  deep  enough  in  proportion  to  the 
height  of  the  ordinance. 


Entasis  in  columns  need  not  be  regarded,  unless  they  Composi- 
exceed  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  in  height;  but  it  adds  tion- 
much  to  their  beauty,  and  should  not  be  neglected  when 
they  ai’e  above  that  magnitude.  No  rule  can  be  given  for 
its  production,  but  it  may  be  thus  described.  The  shaft, 
instead  of  being  the  frustrum  of  a regular  cone,  is  the 
frustrum  of  a cone  whose  outline  is  not  straight,  but 
slightly  convex ; so  that  if  it  were  perfect,  its  vertical  sec- 
tion would  have  the  form  of  a very  acute  pointed  arch. 

This  convexity  should,  however,  be  so  slight  as  in  the 
finished  shaft  to  be  hardly  perceptible.  Its  abuse  is  evi- 
dent in  the  columns  of  the  east  front  of  the  church  of  St 
Paul,  Covent  Garden,  and  indeed  in  some  of  the  less  es- 
teemed works  of  the  Greeks  themselves.  The  modes  of 
fluting  in  the  different  orders  may  be  gathered  from  the 
examples.  The  flutes  should  be  deeper  or  shallower,  as 
the  collocation  of  the  ordinance  may  require  a greater  or 
less  depth  of  shadow  on  the  surface  of  the  columns.  The 
elliptical  or  nearly  elliptical  contour  seems  to  be  the 
most  generally  pleasing.  The  flutes  meet  in  an  arris  on 
columns  of  the  Doric  order,  and  are  separated  from  each 
other  by  alternating  fillets  in  the  Ionic  and  Corinthian. 

Antce  and  Pilasters. — These  should  seldom  be  used,  ex- 
ternally at  least,  unless  with  columns,  for  their  real  use  is 
to  connect  a columnar  ordinance  with  the  walls  to  which 
it  is  attached ; and  being,  as  they  are,  but  slight  projec- 
tions from  walls  for  that  purpose,  nothing  can  be  more 
absurd  than  to  give  them  the  features  of  columns,  either 
by  the  application  to  them  of  similar  capitals  and  bases, 
by  diminishing,  or  by  fluting.  The  use  of  antse  was  right- 
ly understood  by  the  Greeks,  but  not  by  the  Romans ; and 
their  proper  use  may  be  seen  in  the  works  of  the  former. 

The  examples  in  London  of  their  judicious  application, 
most  worthy  of  remark,  are  in  those  edifices  already  men- 
tioned as  exhibiting  good  specimens  of  the  Greek  orders, 
in  the  Bank  of  England,  and  in  the  portico  only  of  the 
London  University.  The  adaptation  in  these  of  other  than 
the  bold  foliage  and  branching  cauliculi  of  the  columnar 
capitals  in  the  Corinthian  ordinances  to  the  antae  caps  is 
particularly  worthy  of  notice  (though  they  are  not  all  of 
equal  merit  as  compositions),  as  the  Greek  remains  are 
without  a regular  example  of  Corinthian  antse,  and  the 
Roman  practice  is  inelegant. 

Pediments. — As  there  is  no  mode  by  which  the  pitch  of 
a pediment  can  be  determined,  it  must  be  left  to  the  taste 
of  the  designer  to  be  governed  or  not  by  the  examples  of 
Greek  and  Roman  antiquity:  it  may,  however,  be  pre- 
mised of  them  generally,  that  those  of  the  former  school 
are  too  flat,  and  those  of  the  latter  too  steep.  The  pedi- 
ment of  the  portico  of  the  London  university  is  admirably 
proportioned  to  the  rest  of  the  composition,  but  its  pitch 
would  be  absurdly  flat  if  applied  to  a tetrastyle  portico. 

The  inclined  sides  of  a pediment  are  covered  by  a cornice 
similar  to  that  which  forms  its  base,  except  that  all  blocks, 
modillions,  and  dentils  are  omitted,  even  if  the  bed-mould 
itself  be  retained,  and  a cymatium  superadded. 

Cornices , fyc. — Although  a perfect  entablature  should 
not  be  applied  to  crown  an  edifice,  except  it  be  in  con- 
nection with  columns  of  some  sort,  or  their  legitimate  re- 
presentatives, piers,  yet  a single  cornice,  or  a cornice  and 
frieze,  is  not  so ; and  it  forms  the  most  pleasing  termina- 
tion to  an  elevation  in  which  columns  are  not  used.  The 
proportion  of  one  or  the  other  may  be  best  found  by  set- 
ting out  a columnar  ordinance  of  the  style  preferred  at 
the  height  of  the  elevation  ; and  the  size  of  the  cornice  or 
cornice  and  frieze  thus  given  will  aptly  become  it.  The 
Vignolan  or  block  cornice,  in  which  the  frieze  is  occu- 
pied by  cut  blocks,  is  exceedingly  effective : it  is  this 
which  Sir  Christopher  Wren  has  employed  in  the  upper  pi.  LXX. 
entablature  of  St  Paul’s,  and  Vignola  himself  in  the  front  Fig.  2. 


ARCHITECTURE.  59 


Composi-  of  the  Villa  Guilia.  With  these  cornices  rustic  quoins 
tion.  consort  very  pleasingly,  and  so  they  do  indeed  with  all 
single  cornices  which  are  of  a bold  character,  and  all  such 
should  be  so. 

PI.  LX VI.  Arcades,  fyc. — The  most  graceful  average  proportion 
for  these  is,  that  the  opening  be  twice  the  width  of  the 
pier,  and  twice  its  own  w’idth  in  height  to  the  crown  of 
the  arch.  The  practice  of  the  Italian  school  in  the  com- 
position of  arcaded  ordinances  may  be  generally  followed 
with  advantage,  except  in  mingling  and  confusing  them 
with  columnar.  The  pier  is  based  by  a deep  square  plinth, 
and  surmounted  by  a square  or  moulded  cap  or  impost, 
the  upper  surface  of  which  is  the  base  line  of  the  arch. 
In  rusticated  work  the  radiating  stones  of  the  arch  show 
their  joints,  and  are  cut  to  a uniform  appearance  with 
the  ordinary  surface  of  the  wall.  In  other  cases  there  is 
a moulded  arcliivolt,  whose  width  varies  from  an  eighth  to 
a tenth  of  the  opening  of  the  arch.  A dropping  keystone 
is  generally  used;  but  this  very  much  injures  the  simpli- 
city, and  consequently  the  beauty  of  the  arch,  and  should 
be  avoided. 

Doors  and  Windows,  8fc. — The  most  approved  propor- 
tion for  these  apertures,  also,  is  twice  their  width  in  height. 
In  an  elevation  which  comprises  several  tiers  or  stories,  it 
is  customary  to  make  those  of  the  lowest  or  ground  story 
rather  less  than  that  proportion  in  height;  those  of  the 
first  or  principal  story  rather  more ; those  of  the  second 
somewhat  less  again ; and  those  of  the  third  (if  there  be 
so  many)  square  or  even  lower.  If,  however,  the  eleva- 
tion consist  of  but  two,  the  ground  story  should  be  the 
principal,  and  its  windows  of  the  most  importance  (if 
any  difference  be  made  between  them  at  all),  those  of  the 
upper  story  being  then  less  than  the  stated  proportion  in 
height.  The  modes  of  ornamenting  doors  and  windows 
are  so  various,  and  they  depend  so  much  on  the  coherent 
parts  of  the  composition,  that  it  is  impossible  here  to  go 
into  their  varieties,  or  to  give  particular  instructions  for 
their  adaptation.  The  practice  of  the  Italian  school  may 
in  this  case  also  be  generally  followed,  avoiding  those 
things  in  it  which  are  injurious,  and  referring  to  the  Greek 
for  the  details  of  mouldings  and  ornament.  The  applica- 
tion of  a columnar  ordinance  to  every  door  or  window, 
giving  it  the  effect  of  a little  edifice  in  relief,  exemplified 
by  the  windows  of  the  principal  story  of  the  Farnese  Pa- 
lace, must  be  censured  as  injudicious ; and  so  must  pedi- 
ments of  all  kinds,  but  particularly  those  formed  with  cir- 
cular lines,  or  lines  twisted  in  any  way,  or,  though  right 
lined,  not  meeting  in  a point  at  the  apex.  In  basements 
or  ground  stories  windows  or  doors  may  be  lined  with 
rustic  courses  with  good  effect,  though  the  face  of  the 
wall  be  not  rusticated;  and  if  it  be  so,  no  other  lining  is 
thought  necessary.  The  windows  of  a principal  story  may 
he  lined  with  an  architrave,  either  quite  straight  or  re- 
turning in  knees  at  the  head,  and  resting  on  a continuous 
blocking  course  below.  This  architrave  may  be  surmount- 
ed by  an  enriched  frieze  and  cornice,  the  former  bounded 
at  the  ends,  and  the  latter  upborne  by  trusses  or  consoles, 
which  may  rest  on  or  be  affixed  to  a species  of  pilaster, 
outside  the  architrave,  and  parallel  to  it;  if  detached  sills 
are  preferred,  a shorter  and  bolder  truss  may  be  judicious- 
ly applied  below  the  sill,  under  the  foot  of  each  pilaster, 
to  complete  the  composition  : the  architrave  is  generally 
a sixth  or  a seventh  of  the  opening  in  width,  and  the  con- 
sole and  its  pilaster  about  a ninth  or  tenth.  Upon  no  ac- 
count should  rustics  be  run  through  the  architrave  lining 
of  a window,  as  on  the  flanks  of  St  Martin’s  Church  in 
London.  A series  of  circular-headed  windows  conjoined, 
as  in  the  earlier  works  of  the  Venetian  school,  is  produc- 
tive of  a pleasing  effect;  but  the  large  circular-headed, 
with  two  conjoined  smaller  rectangular  windows,  found  in 


the  later  works  of  the  Italian  school,  and  called  Venetian,  Composi- 
is  radically  inelegant ; and  there  is  such  a one  in  the  tion- 
east  end  of  the  structure  last  mentioned.  Blank  windows 
should  be  recurred  to  as  seldom  as  possible ; and  when 
they  cannot  be  avoided,  they  should  have  sash-frames  and 
sashes  as  if  they  were  real  windows,  otherwise  they  give  a 
maimed  effect  to  an  elevation. 

Niches. — There  are  very  few  cases  in  which  these  do 
not  act  injuriously  on  a composition,  from  the  difficulty  of 
making  them  cohere  with  the  other  parts : the  usual 
mode  in  Italian  practice  is  to  give  them  the  effect  of  win- 
dows, which  cannot  be  approved  of.  Internally  they  may 
be  used  with  much  better  effect  than  on  exteriors.  If  a 
niche  is  intended  to  receive  a statue,  it  should  have  a cir- 
cular head ; if  a vase,  it  will  perhaps  be  better  straight ; 
the  plan  of  a niche  is  semicircular. 

Parapets. — The  pierced  parapet  or  balustrade  is  not  in- 
elegant when  the  forms  of  which  it  is  composed  are  sim- 
ple and  chaste,  as  piers  ; but  the  close  continuous  parapet 
is  generally  preferable,  because  of  its  greater  simplicity, 
and  its  accordance  with  the  principles  developed  in  the 
most  classic  works  of  architecture.  The  parapet  of  a pro- 
jected balcony,  to  give  an  appearance  of  lightness,  may 
perhaps  be  better  pierced ; but  if  a stereobate  continue 
straight  through  a window  without  projection,  it  should 
remain  close  and  uncut,  unless  there  exist  some  special 
reason  for  wishing  to  make  the  window  appear  so  much 
higher. 

Balconies. — These,  whether  continuous  or  broken  to 
every  window,  act  for  the  most  part  injuriously  in  a com- 
position. In  the  former  case  they  cannot  be  kept  sufficient- 
ly under  not  to  appear  of  too  much  importance ; and  in 
the  latter  they  have  the  effect  of  a broken  cornice  or  en- 
tablature. In  both  cases,  when  a balcony  is  above  the  eye, 
it  destroys  the  proportion  of  the  windows  opening  on  it, 
by  intercepting  more  or  less  of  their  height. 

Proportion  and  Arrangement  of  Booms. — Whatever  the 
length  of  a room  may  be,  it  will  not  be  disagreeably  pro- 
portioned if  its  height  and  breadth  are  the  same;  and  if 
the  length  may  be  limited,  once  and  a half  the  breadth  is 
the  most  pleasing.  Galleries,  of  course,  will  be  much 
longer  than  that  proportion  ; and  corridors  will  necessarily 
be  narrower  than  they  are  high.  Entrance-halls  should 
be  cubical,  regularly  polygonal,  or  circular.  Access  should 
be  given  to  a room  by  the  end;  it  should  be  lighted  on 
one  side,  and  the  fire-place  may  be  at  the  other  end,  or 
on  the  other  side : if  the  former,  there  should  be  two 
doors,  or  one  and  the  appearance  of  another,  that  the  fire- 
place may  not  be  immediately  opposite  to  a door.  Many 
things,  however,  from  localities  and  otherwise,  constantly 
occur  to  make  it  absolutely  impossible  to  attend  to  such 
suggestions  as  these.  In  halls  and  saloons  not  command- 
ing a pleasing  view,  the  windows  may  be  advantageously 
placed  above  the  usual  level,  for  agreeable  effect,  for  light, 
and  for  ventilation.  In  rooms  lighted  from  above,  as  the 
Pantheon  in  Rome  is,  a columnar  ordinance  may  be  judi- 
ciously adapted;  but  otherwise  columns  and  their  acces- 
sories can  seldom  be  well  disposed  internally. 

Chimneys. — If  a chimney  be  in  the  end  of  a room,  it 
should  be  similarly  proportioned,  the  height  and  breadth 
of  its  opening  corresponding  with  the  height  and  breadth 
of  the  room;  if  it  be  on  a side,  it  should  be  somewhat 
wider  than  it  is  high ; if  the  room  be  longer  than  the 
sesquialteral  proportion,  it  should  have  two  fire-places, 
either  at  the  two  ends  or  equidistant  from  the  centre  of 
one  of  the  two  sides.  The  chimney-piece  should  be  bold 
and  massive,  not  frittered  into  small  parts  and  much  mould- 
ed ; it  may,  however,  have  its  vertical  faces  enriched  with 
great  advantage. 

Ceilings. — The  ceiling  of  a room  should  be  nearly  plain, 


(50  ARCHITECTU  R E. 


Composi-  but  it  may  rest  on  a bold  and  enriched  cornice,  not  com- 
tlon-  posed  like  an  external  cornice,  as  it  is  differently  lighted, 
but  with  deep  covings  instead  of  broad  flat  surfaces.  Such 
cornices  are  highly  susceptible  of  ornament,  and  they  may 
have  additional  effect  given  to  them  by  means  of  colour. 
In  large  rooms  the  area  of  the  ceiling  may  be  pleasingly 
contracted,  and  so  made  to  appear  lighter,  by  coving  the 
angles  altogether,  and  thus  bringing  the  cornice  on  which 
it  rests  lower  down  on  the  walls.  This  mode  of  arrange- 
ment is  used,  too,  in  the  small  rooms  of  a lofty  story,  to 
take  off  from  their  too  great  height.  The  horizontal  sur- 
face of  a ceiling  may  be  treated  like  a large  panel,  with 
broad  borders  and  slight  sinkings ; or,  if  it  be  very  large 
and  lofty,  coffering  or  panelling  all  over,  with  moulded 
or  painted  ornaments,  will  produce  an  agreeable  effect. 
Domed  ceilings  should  be  coffered,  especially  when  they 
are  lighted  from  above ; but  if  the  light  be  from  below, 
as  in  St  Paul’s  and  St  Peter’s  Cathedrals,  ribbing  is  far 
better.  Heavy  cumbrous  masses  of  foliage  in  a ceiling 
should  be  avoided ; frets,  guiloches,  and  arabesque  orna- 
ments, are  the  best  suited  enrichments  for  a ceiling  on 
which  ornament  is  necessary. 

Stabs. — In  a structure  whose  principal  apartments  are 
on  the  ground  floor,  the  staircase  is  a secondary  considera- 
tion, and  should  be  secluded ; but  where  they  are  above 
the  level  of  the  entrance  door,  it  becomes  an  important 
part  of  the  interior,  and  should  be  of  immediate  and  easy 
access.  The  rise  of  a step  should  not  be  more  than  six 
inches,  and  the  tread  not  less  than  twelve.  In  a square 
staircase  winders  should  not  be  used ; and  in  no  case 
should  there  be  more  than  ten  or  twelve  flyers  without  a 
quarter  or  half  space,  both  to  prevent  fatigue  in  ascending, 
and  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  danger  in  the  de- 
scent. Winding  staircases  are  less  convenient  and  less 
pleasing  in  effect  than  those  which  are  square  and  with- 
out winders.  Much  room  may  be  saved,  however,  where 
it  is  of  consequence,  by  using  the  former.  Handrails 
should  follow  the  character  of  the  staircases  to  which 
they  are  attached  ; but  a somewhat  square  form,  with  the 
sides  or  edges  moulded,  should  be  given  to  them  under 
all  circumstances,  because  of  its  simplicity,  as  well  as  the 
greater  degree  of  firmness  or  solidity  which  the  whole 
composition  derives  from  it,  both  in  effect  and  in  appear- 
ance, than  can  be  acquired  for  it  otherwise.  The  hand- 
rail and  balusters  of  an  in-door  staircase  is  indeed  but  the 
parapet  of  an  external  flight  of  steps  or  of  a terrace,  exe- 
cuted with  more  lightness  and  a greater  degree  of  deli- 
cacy because  of  their  location.  The  balustrading,  also, 
should  therefore  be  characterized  by  boldness  and  sim- 
plicity, though  it  is  indeed  a difficult  thing  to  compose 
with  propriety,  because  of  its  inclination,  and  the  want  of 
parallelism  between  the  graduating  base  formed  by  the 
ends  of  the  steps  and  the  hanging  level  of  the  coping  or 
handrail.  The  first  step  of  a staircase  has  a voluted  or 
curtail  end  (or  ends  if  it  be  insulated,  as  in  a staircase 
with  a double  returning  flight)  supporting  a column  or 
newel,  on  which  the  voluted  or  scrolled  end  of  the  hand- 
rail rests.  The  steps  of  a staircase  are  wrought  with 
moulded  nosings,  which  are  returned  at  the  exposed  ends  ; 
the  under  surface  is  either  cut  straight  and  parallel  to  the 
inclination  of  the  flight,  or  moulded  to  form  a pleasing  ob- 
ject when  seen  from  below. 

Mouldings  and  Ornament. — The  Greek  examples  offer 
the  most  beautiful  forms  for  mouldings,  and  the  Grecian 
mode  of  enriching  them  is  unsurpassed  for  beauty  and  effi- 
ciency. By  adhering  to  them,  and  observing  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  produced  and  combined,  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  produce  and  combine  mouldings  in  sufficient 
variety  for  every  purpose. 

For  ornament  the  Homan  examples  may  vie  with  the 


Greek ; but  in  composing  or  adapting,  it  is  necessary  to  Composi- 

avoid  alike  the  tendency  to  too  great  luxuriance  in  the 

one,  and  to  poverty  in  the  other.  The  remains  of  Her- 

culaneum  and  Pompeii  have  furnished  us  with  a great 

deal  of  ornament  that  is  new  and  beautiful ; and  much 

that  is  excellent  may  be  found  on  the  earlier  architectural 

and  sculptural  monuments  of  Italy  of  the  middle  ages. 

It  should  nevertheless  be  always  borne  in  mind  that  the 
object  in  architectural  enrichment  is  not  to  show  the  or- 
nament, but  to  enrich  the  surface,  by  producing  an  effec- 
tive and  pleasing  variety  of  light  and  shade  ; but  still,  al- 
though the  ornament  should  be  a secondary  consideration, 
it  will  develope  itself,  and  should  therefore  be  of  elegant 
form  and  composition,  as  well  as  the  means  of  producing 
a good  effect  on  the  architecture  to  which  it  is  attached. 

Of  Vertical  or  Pointed  Composition. 

The  towers  of  Westminster  Abbey  are  an  excellent 
practical  illustration  of  the  essential  difference  which 
exists  between  the  horizontal  and  vertical  styles  of  archi- 
tectural composition.  In  general  form  they  belong  to 
the  Pointed  style,  and  in  so  far  cohere  with  the  structure 
generally;  but  the  running  lines  of  the  buttresses,  if  their 
angle  piers  may  be  so  called,  are  constantly  intercepted  by 
transverse  cornices  ; and  all  the  details  are  strangely  in  dis- 
cordance with  the  character  derived  from  the  pointed  arch. 

Buttresses  in  a Pointed  composition  must  not  be  con- 
sidered simply  as  buttresses,  or  supports  to  the  angles,  or 
sides  of  a structure,  any  more  than  a cornice  in  horizon- 
tal composition  may  be  thought  only  necessary  to  cover 
or  protect  the  wall  on  which  it  rests.  That  these  were 
the  uses  for  which  they  were  severally  applied  originally, 
cannot  perhaps  be  doubted ; but  although  they  may  be 
useful  as  such,  we  must  now  consider  them  as  aids  to  ar- 
chitectural effect.  Buttresses,  then,  are  of  the  same  use 
in  the  vertical  style  that  cornices  are  in  the  horizontal — 
to  give  character  to  an  elevation,  by  throwing  a mass  of 
shadow,  to  relieve  it  of  the  monotony  necessarily  attend- 
ant on  a flat  surface,  however  it  may  be  pierced  or  en- 
riched. The  sides  of  the  buttresses  should  be  either 
quite  perpendicular  the  whole  height  they  have  to  run, 
or  be  slightly  diminished,  if  the  wall  behind  them  dimi- 
nishes, in  lengths  and  not  by  inclined  lines.  Their  faces 
also  must  run  up  vertically  to  the  sets-off,  and  these  should 
be  in  the  same  inclined  line,  and  that  line  pointing  to  the 
apex  of  their  pinnacles,  when  pinnacles  surmount  them. 

Indeed  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  enforced  that  there  should 
be  a constant  tendency  in  the  outlines  of  compositions  in 
this  style  to  meet,  although  the  surfaces  be  themselves  so 
generally  perpendicular;  and  the  more  acute  the  angle 
under  which  they  incline,  the  more  graceful  and  becoming 
the  style  the  result  will  be.  The  commanding  lines  of  every 
part  of  a composition  should  lead  through  from  its  summit 
to  the  base.  Thus,  a spire  or  pinnacle  should  rest  on  a tower 
or  turret  whose  angles  are  not  interrupted,  but  never  on 
a merely  flat  wall,  however  it  may  be  faced  with  but- 
tresses to  give  an  apparent  projection.  Neither  should 
low  porches  be  projected  from  the  face  of  a structure,  lor 
such  can  only  have  the  effect  of  excrescences,  and  tend  to 
injure  a composition  ; nor  should  external  doors  be  made 
but  in  places  where  the  harmony  of  the  composition  is 
not  injured  by  them  as  irregular  apertures.  Internally, 
square  forms  are  seldom  used ; but  piers  consist  of  clustered 
cylindrical  shafts,  and  thin  shafts  of  the  same  form,  lofty, 
and  uninterrupted  by  crossing  lines,  act  as  pilasters.  On 
these,  capped  with  deeply  inflected  congeries  of  mould- 
ings or  foliage  for  the  former,  and  lighter  ones  made  con- 
tinuous and  breaking  round  them  for  the  latter,  rest  the 
arches  and  arched  ceilings.  Flat  surfaces  are  susceptible 
of  high  enrichment  by  means  of  tracery  and  panelling ; 


ARCHITECTURE.  61 


Glossary,  mouldings  are  enriched,  not  by  carving  on  them,  but  by 
rounding  out  foliage  and  other  ornament  in  covings  and 
other  deep  inflections.  Corbels  should  not  be  substituted 
for  shafts  to  support  arches  when  it  can  be  avoided;  but 
they  have  a pleasing  effect  as  supports  to  the  dripstone  or 
canopy  of  a door  or  window ; and  indeed  there  are  many 
other  situations  in  which  they  are  almost  necessary,  but 
they  should  always  be  considered  as  succedaneous,  and 
not  as  necessary  to  a composition. 

To  avoid  glaring  inconsistencies  in  composing,  it  will 
be  well  to  adhere  generally  to  the  style  of  some  particu- 
lar period,  and  to  employ  the  proportions  and  enrichments, 
as  well  as  the  forms,  peculiar  to  it ; but,  nevertheless,  a 
more  ornate  may  superimpose  a plainer  part,  so  that  the 
difference  be  not  violent.  Windows  of  the  second  period 
may  be  placed  over  an  arched  composition  of  the  first, 
and  appear  naturally  to  result  from  it;  but  the  transition 
would  be  so  great  from  the  first  to  the  third,  as  to  make 
the  result  inharmonious.  It  need  not  however  be  denied, 
to  those  who  feel  themselves  competent  to  use  the  mate- 
rials with  good  taste  and  propriety,  to  select  matter  from 
examples  of  the  various  periods,  and  make  compositions 
not  exactly  in  the  style  of  any  of  them.  With  a clear 
perception  of  the  principles  of  the  style  generally,  which 
we  have  endeavoured  to  point  out,  and  a practical  ac- 


quaintance with  the  classic  exemplars  of  it,  such  may  Glossary, 
certainly  be  produced ; and  they  may  as  certainly  be  ''‘’""T''*"' 
adapted  to  all  the  purposes  to  which  any  species  of  archi- 
tecture can  be  applied. 

Rules  for  practice  might  be  made  to  infinity,  but  they 
are  unnecessary  in  this  case,  there  being  no  authorized 
modern  practice,  like  that  of  the  Italian  school  in  horizon- 
tal composition,  to  counteract.  It  is  but  to  use  the  forms, 
proportions,  decorations,  and  enrichments,  and  follow  the 
mode  of  combination,  which  appear  in  the  examples : these, 
with  constant  reference  to  the  principles  we  have  attempt- 
ed to  develope,  will  be  the  surest  and  safest  guides  in 
composing  and  arranging  any  subject.  They  are,  too,  so 
rife  with  materials  for  general  purposes,  that  few  cases 
can  occur  in  which  there  need  be  any  difficulty  in  finding 
parallels.  Buttresses,  piers,  shafts,  arches,  pediments, 
parapets,  turrets,  pinnacles,  windows,  doors,  niches,  ceil- 
ings, tablets,  with  mouldings  and  ornaments  in  great 
profusion, — indeed  almost  every  thing  that  can  be  re- 
quired in  practice, — appear  in  existing  works  of  the  style; 
preventing  the  necessity  of  determining  from  the  mode  of 
procedure  in  one  case  how  we  should  act  in  another,  as 
the  comparative  paucity  of  materials  in  the  Greek  and 
Roman  remains  rendered  it  necessary  to  do  in  developing 
the  horizontal  style.  (h.  h.) 


GLOSSARY  OF  NAMES  AND  TERMS  USED  IN  ARCHITECTURE.1 


Abaciscus  (diminutive  of  Abacus,  q.  v.).  This  term  is 
applied  to  the  chequers  or  squares  of  a tessellated  pave- 
ment. 

Abacus  (Gr.  a£a£,  a square  tile  or  table).  The  rectan- 
gular and  equilateral  tablet  covering  the  ovalo  of  the 
capital  of  the  Doric  column,  and  on  which  the  super- 
imposed entablature  rests,  is  called  the  abacus;  and 
from  it  the  similar  part  (though  differently  shaped)  of 
all  capitals  is  distinguished  by  the  same  term.  Abacus 
means  the  same  thing,  but  is  opposed  in  application  to 
Plinth,  q.  v.  See  also  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Acroterium  (Gr.  uxgurrigiov,  the  summit  or  vertex),  a 
statue  or  ornament  of  any  kind  placed  on  the  apex  of  a 
pediment.  The  term  is  often  incorrectly  restricted  to 
the  plinth,  which  forms  the  podium  merely  for  the  acro- 
terium. The  statue  of  the  saint  on  the  apex  of  the 
pediment  of  the  western  front  of  St  Paul’s  is  an  acrote- 
rium ; the  other  statues  may  be  called  acroteral  figures. 

Amphiprostyle  (Gr.  ay<pi,  around  or  about,  and  pro- 
style, q.  v.).  A temple  with  a portico  at  each  end  is  said 
to  be  an  amphiprostyle.  This  term  would  be  more  cor- 
rectly applied  to  a structure  having  projecting  porticoes 
on  all  its  sides,  especially  if  it  be  equilateral  like  the 
Bourse  or  Exchange  at  Paris,  allowing  no  distinction  of 
flanks  or  wings  to  make  it  peripteral.  See  Plate  LIX. 
fig.  3 and  4,  and  Description,  page  69. 

Annulet  (Lat.  annulus,  a ring).  This  term  is  applied 
to  the  small  fillets  or  bands  which  encircle  the  lower 
part  of  the  Doric  capital  immediately  above  the  neck 
or  trachelium. 

Ant.®  (probably  from  the  Gr.  amof,  or  some  other  com- 
pound of  the  preposition  am,  for,  or  opposite  to ; it 
has  no  singular),  the  pier-formed  ends  of  the  walls  of 
a building,  as  in  the  portico  of  a Greek  temple.  A 
portico  is  said  to  be  in  antis  when  columns  stand  be- 
tween antae,  as  in  the  temple  of  Theseus,  supposing  the 
peristyle  or  surrounding  columns  removed.  Plate L VIII. 
fig.  1,  2,  and  3. 


Antefix®  (Lat.  ante,  before,  and  fixus , fixed),  upright 
blocks  with  an  ornamented  face  placed  at  regular  inter- 
vals on  a cornice.  Antefixae  were  originally  adapted  to 
close  and  hide  the  lower  ends  of  the  joints  of  the  co- 
vering tiles  on  the  roof  of  a temple  as  they  appear  in  the 
examples.  Plate  LVII.  fig.  1,  2,  and  4;  and  Plate  LIX. 
fig.  3. 

Apophyge  (Gr.  avofivyr;,  a flying  off),  the  lowest  part 
of  the  shaft  of  an  Ionic  or  Corinthian  column,  or  the 
highest  member  of  its  base  if  the  column  be  considered 
as  a whole.  The  apophyge  is  the  inverted  cavetto  or 
concave  sweep,  on  the  upper  edge  of  which  the  cylin- 
drical shaft  rests.  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Apteral  (Gr.  a priv.  and  Trig ov,  a wing),  a temple  with- 
out columns  on  the  flanks  or  sides.  The  Greek  Ionic 
temple,  Plate  LIX.,  is  apteral. 

Ar®ostyle  (Gr.  aga/oj,  rare  or  weak,  and  eruXos,  a co- 
lumn), a wide  intercolumniation.  (See  Eustyle.)  The 
space  assigned  to  this  term  is  four  diameters. 

Ar®osystyle  (compounded  of  arceostyle  and  systyle, 
q.  v.).  This  term  is  used  to  express  the  arrangement 
attendant  on  coupled  columns,  as  in  the  western  front 
of  St  Paul’s  Cathedral.  Plate  LXVIII.  fig.  1. 

Arcade,  a series  of  arches. 

Arch  (Lat.  arcus,  a bow),  a construction  of  separate  or 
distinct  blocks  or  masses  of  any  hard  material,  cut 
wedge-wise,  and  arranged  in  a bowed  form,  so  as  to 
bear  from  end  to  end  horizontally,  or  across  an  open- 
ing, though  abutting  or  being  supported  only  at  the 
ends. 

Architrave  (Gr.  ag^r),  chief,  and  Lat.  trabs,  a beam), 
the  chief  beam, — that  part  of  the  entablature  which 
rests  immediately  on  the  heads  of  the  columns,  and  is 
surmounted  by  the  frieze:  it  is  also  called  the  episty- 
lium  or  epistyle.  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1.  The  moulded 
enrichment  on  the  sides  and  head  of  a door  or  window 
is  called  an  architrave. 

Archivolt.  This  term  is  a contraction  of  the  Italian 


* Those  marked  thus  -f  are  either  entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  peculiar  to  Pointed  Architecture. 


62  ARCHITECT  TJ  R E. 


Glossary.  architrave  voltato.  It  is  applied  to  the  architrave 
moulding  on  the  face  of  an  arch,  and  following  its  con- 
tour. 

Arris,  the  sharp  edge  or  angle  in  which  two  sides  or 
surfaces  meet. 

Astragal  (Gr.  ocgrguyu'kog,  a vertebral  joint),  a con- 
vex moulding.  This  term  is  generally  applied  to  small 
mouldings,  and  torus  to  large  ones  of  the  same  form. 
(See  Torus.) 

Attic,  a low  story  above  an  entablature,  or  above  a 
cornice  which  limits  the  height  of  the  main  part  of  an 
elevation.  The  etymology  of  this  term  is  unsettled : 
probably  the  upper  range  of  columns  in  a Greek  hypae- 
thral  temple  (see  Plate  LVII.  fig.  1)  was  called  urtiyov, 
from  having  no  coherent  wall ; whence  the  Latin  atticum, 
and  its  application  to  a story  superimposing  the  general 
ordinance.  Otherwise  such  a thing  is  unknown  in 
Greek  architecture;  but  it  is  very  common  in  both 
Roman  and  Italian  practice.  What  is  here  termed  the 
tholobate  in  St  Peter’s  and  St  Paul’s  cathedrals  are 
generally  termed  attics. 

Baluster,  a small  column  or  pier  supporting  the  coping 
in  a pierced  parapet : the  parapet  itself  when  pierced  is 
hence  called  a balustrade. 

Band  or  Taenia,  nearly  synonymous  with  Fillet,  q.  v. 
This  term  is,  however,  most  generally  applied  to  that 
listel  in  the  Doric  entablature  which  separates  the 
frieze  from  the  architrave,  and  connects  the  lower  parts 
of  the  triglyphs. 

Base  (Gr.  £a<ng,  from  the  verb  to  bear).  The  congeries 
of  mouldings  generally  placed  under  the  shaft  of  an 
Ionic  or  Corinthian  column  is  called  its  base.  Plate 
LXVI.  fig.  1.  The  term  is  applied  also  to  the  lowest 
part  of  a pedestal  or  stylobate ; to  the  vertical  moulded 
fittings  which  go  round  walls  on  the  floor ; and  gene- 
rally to  every  thing  that  is  put  lowest,  for  any  thing  to 
rest  on. 

Batter  (Fr.  battre,  to  beat).  Building  over  in  projecting 
courses,  like  inverted  steps,  is  termed  battering,  beat- 
ing, or  corbelling  over. 

f Battlement,  a pierced  or  machicolated  parapet. 

f Bay.  The  space  between  the  mullions  of  a window,  be- 
tween piers,  and  between  the  principal  beams  of  a roof, 
floor,  or  ceiling,  is  a bay. 

Bead,  a small  cylindrical  moulding  of  frequent  use. 
Plate  LXI. 

Bed-mould,  the  congeries  of  mouldings  which  is  under 
the  projecting  part  of  almost  every  cornice,  and  of 
which  indeed  it  is  a part.  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Blocking-course,  a deep  but  slightly  projecting  course 
in  an  elevation,  to  act  as  cornice  to  an  arcade,  or  to 
separate  a basement  from  a superior  story.  (See 
String-course.) 

j-  Boss,  a sculptured  knob  which  is  placed  on  the  inter- 
sections of  ribs  in  groined  ceilings. 

■f  Buttress,  the  projected  piers  against  the  angles  of 
towers,  and  against  the  ordinary  piers  of  walls,  to 
strengthen  them,  and  receive  the  outward  thrust  of  the 
inner  transverse  arches. 

Cabling.  The  flutes  of  columns  are  said  to  be  cabled 
when  they  are  partly  occupied  by  solid  convex  masses, 
or  appear  to  be  refilled  with  cylinders  after  they  had 
been  formed. 

f Canopy,  a covering  or  hood,  the  enriched  projecting 
head  to  a niche  or  tabernacle.  The  tablet  or  drip-stone, 
whether  straight  or  circular,  over  the  heads  of  doors  or 
windows,  if  enriched,  is  called  a canopy. 

Capital,  Cap  (Gr.  the  head),  the  spreading, 


moulded,  voluted,  foliate,  or  otherwise  enriched  head  Glossary, 
of  a column.  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1.  The  term  cap  is 
applied,  in  contradistinction, to  the  congeries  of  mould- 
ings which  forms  the  head  of  a pier  or  pilaster. 

Caryatides.  Human  female  figures  used  as  piers,  co- 
lumns, or  supports,  are  called  Caryatides;  and,  adjec- 
tively,  Caryatic  is  applied  to  the  human  figure  general- 
ly, when  used  in  the  manner  of  Caryatides.  Plate  LX. 
fig.  4 and  6. 

Cassoon  (ItaL),  a deep  panel  or  coffer  in  a soffit  or  ceil- 
ing. This  term  is  often  written,  after  the  French  cais- 
son, whereas  we  derive  it  directly  from  the  Italian 
cassone,  the  augmentative  of  cassa,  a chest  or  coffer. 

Cathetus  (Gr.  xa&ros,  a perpendicular  line).  The  eye 
of  the  volute  is  so  termed  because  its  position  is  deter- 
mined, in  an  Ionic  or  voluted  capital,  by  a line  let  down 
from  the  point  in  which  the  volute  generates. 

Cauliculus  (Lat.  a stalk  or  stem),  the  inner  scrolls  or 
tendrils  of  the  Corinthian  capital  are  called  Caidiculi. 

It  is  not  uncommon,  however,  to  apply  this  term  to  the 
larger  scrolls  or  volutes  of  the  same  also.  Plate  LXVI. 
fig.  1. 

Cavetto  (Ital.  cavare,  to  dig  out),  a moulding  whose 
form  is  a simple  concave,  and  impending.  Plate  LXI. 

Cella  (Lat.),  the  cell  or  interior  of  a Cleithral  temple. 

The  Greek  term  is  Naos,  q.  v. 

Chamfer.  An  edge  or  arris  taken  off  equally  on  the  two 
sides  which  form  it,  leaves  what  is  called  a chamfer , or 
a chamfered  edge.  If  the  arris  be  taken  off  more  on 
one  side  than  the  other,  it  is  said  to  be  splayed  or  be- 
velled. 

f Cinquefoil,  tracery  in  five  foliations  or  featherings. 

The  windows  in  the  towers  of  Westminster  Hall,  Plate 
LXXV.,  are  cinquefoiled. 

Cleithral  ( vide  Cleithros).  This  is  used  of  a covered 
Greek  temple,  in  contradistinction  to  Hypcethral , which 
designates  one  that  is  uncovered. 

Cleithros  (Gr.  zKu&^og,  an  inclosed  or  shut  up  place).  A 
temple  whose  roof  completely  covers  or  incloses  it  is  a 
Cleithros.  Plate  LV1II.  fig.  1,  2,  3;  and  Plate  LIX. 
fig.  1,  2,  3,  and  4. 

Coffer,  a deep  panel  in  a ceiling. 

Column  (Lat.  columna ),  a tapering  cylindrical  mass, 
placed  vertically  on  a level  stylobate,  in  some  cases 
with  a spreading  congeries  of  mouldings  called  a base, 
and  having  always  at  its  upper  and  smaller  end  a di- 
lating mass  called  a capital.  Columns  are  either  insu- 
lated or  attached.  They  are  said  to  be  attached  or 
engaged  when  they  form  part  of  a wall,  projecting  one 
half  or  more,  but  not  the  whole  of  their  substance. 

Plate  LIX.  fig.  1 exhibits  insulated,  and  fig.  2 attached 
columns.  See  also  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Consol  or  Console,  a bracket  or  truss,  generally  with 
scrolls,  or  volutes,  at  the  two  ends,  of  unequal  size  and 
contrasted,  but  connected  by  a flowing  line  from  the 
back  of  the  upper  one  to  the  inner  convolving  face 
of  the  lower. 

Coping,  the  covering  course  or  cornice  of  a wall  or  para- 
pet. The  term  coping  is  generally  applied  to  a plain, 
slightly  projected,  covering  course,  and  cornice  to  a 
larger  moulded  coping. 

j-  Corbel,  a knob,  boss,  or  consol,  projecting  from  a ver- 
tical face,  to  act  as  a prop  or  support.  Its  jutting  or 
overhanging  has  induced  the  application  of  the  term 
to  describe  the  projection  of  one  thing  over  another. 

Cornice  (Gr.  zoguvig,  the  highest  part,  that  which  is 
placed  last  on  a building),  the  highest  part  of  an  en- 
tablature— that  which  rests  on  the  frieze.  Plate  LXVI. 
fig.  1.  The  term  cornice  is  very  generally  applied  to 
any  bold  congeries  of  mouldings  occupying  the  highest 


ARCHITECTURE.  63 


Glossary.  place  in  a composition,  whether  external  or  internal.  A 
plain  covering  to  a wall  or  parapet  is  called  a coping,  q.  v. 

Corona  ( vide  Cornice).  This  term  is  applied  to  the 
deep  vertical  face  of  the  projected  part  of  the  cornice 
between  the  bed-mould  and  the  covering  mouldings. 
Plate  LX VI.  fig.  1. 

f Crocket  (probably  from  the  old  English  word  crok,  a 
curl),  an  ornament  of  foliage  or  animals  running  up 
the  back  of  a pediment,  arch,  pinnacle,  or  spire,  from 
the  corbels  below  to  the  finial  above,  in  which  latter 
the  crockets  on  both  sides  appear  to  merge.  Plate 
LXXV.  fig.  3 and  5.  In  the  earlier  examples  the  crocket 
is  a mere  curl,  or  bent  tendril,  with  an  enriched  end. 

Cupola  (Ital.  cupo,  concave,  profound),  a spherical  or 
spheroidal  covering  to  a building,  or  to  any  part  of  it. 
Plate  LXIV.  fig.  2,  3,  and  4 ; Plate  LXIX. ; and  Plate 
LXXIV.  fig.  2. 

f Cusp  (Lat.  cuspis,  a spear),  the  points  in  which  the 
foliations  of  tracery  finish.  These  are  sometimes  them- 
selves enriched,  and  are  sometimes  plain. 

Cyclostylar  (Gr.  xmXog,  a circle,  and  eruXog,  a column). 
A structure  composed  of  a circular  range  of  columns 
without  a core  is  cyclostylar,  for  with  a core  the  range 
would  be  a peristyle.  This  is  the  species  of  edifice 
falsely  called  by  Vitruvius  Monopteral.  (See  Monop- 
teros.) 

Cyma  (Gr.  xgaa,  a wave),  the  name  of  a moulding  of 
very  frequent  use.  It  is  a simple,  waved  line,  concave 
at  one  end  and  convex  at  the  other,  like  an  Italic  f In 
that  manner  it  is  called  a cyma-recta;  but  if  the  con- 
vexity appear  above,  and  the  concavity  below  on  the 
right  hand,  it  is  then  a cyma-reversa.  Plate  LXI. 

Cyrtostyle  (Gr.  xvgro g,  convex,  and  ffruXog,  a column), 
a circular  projecting  portico.  Such  are  those  to  the 
transept  entrances  to  St  Paul’s  cathedral,  Plate  LXIX. 
fig.  1. 

Dado  or  Die,  the  vertical  face  of  an  insulated  pedestal, 
between  the  base  and  cornice  or  surbase.  It  is  ex- 
tended also  to  the  similar  part  of  all  stereobates  which 
are  arranged  like  pedestals  in  Roman  and  Italian  archi- 
tecture. 

Decastyle  (Gr.  dexa,  ten,  and  arvXog,  a column),  a por- 
tico of  ten  columns  in  front.  (See  note  to  the  term 
Hexastyle.)  The  portico  to  the  London  University 
is  of  this  description ; more  particularly  described,  it  is 
deca-prostyle  and  recessed. 

Dentil  (Lat.  dens,  a tooth).  The  cogged  or  toothed 
member,  so  common  in  the  bed-mould  of  a Corinthian 
entablature,  is  said  to  be  dentilled ; and  each  cog  or 
tooth  is  called  a dentil.  Plate  LX VI.  fig.  1. 

Design.  Architects  apply  this  term  to  what  is  vulgarly 
called  a plan,  intending  by  it  the  scheme  or  design  of 
a building  in  all  its  parts,  the  term  plan  having  a dis- 
tinct application  to  a technical  portion  of  the  design. 
(See  Plan.)  The  plans,  elevations,  sections,  and  what- 
ever other  drawings  may  be  necessary  for  an  edifice, 
exhibit  the  design. 

Detail.  As  used  by  architects,  detail  means  the  small- 
er parts  into  which  a composition  may  be  divided.  It 
is  applied  generally  to  mouldings  and  other  enrich- 
ments, and  again  to  their  minutiae. 

Diameter  (superior  and  inferior).  The  greater  diameter 
of  the  shaft  of  a column  is  technically  termed  its  infe- 
rior, because  it  is  that  of  the  lower  end ; and  the  lesser, 
that  of  the  upper  end,  its  superior  diameter. 

Diastyle  (Gr.  dia,  through,  and  aruXog,  a column),  a spa- 
cious intercolumniation,  to  which  three  diameters  are  as- 
signed. ( Vide  Eustyle.) 

Dipteral.  (See  Dipteros.) 


Dipteros  (Gr.  big,  twice,  and  trngov,  a wing),  a double  Glossary, 
winged  temple.  The  Greeks  are  said  to  have  con- 
structed  temples  with  two  ranges  of  columns  all  round, 
which  were  called  dipteroi.  A portico  projecting  two 
columns  and  their  interspaces  is  of  dipteral  or  pseudo- 
dipteral arrangement.  See  description  of  fig.  3,  Plate 
LVIII.  page  69. 

Distyle  (Gr  dig,  twice,  and  ffruXog,  a column),  a portico 
of  two  columns.  This  term  is  not  generally  applied 
to  the  mere  porch  with  two  columns,  but  to  describe  a 
portico  with  two  columns  in  antis.  The  elevation  of 
the  pronaos  of  the  hexastyle  peripteral  temple,  Plate 
LVIII.  fig.  2,  exhibits  an  example  of  distyle  in  antis. 

Ditriglyph  (Gr.  dig,  twice,  and  triglyph,  q.  v.),  an  in- 
tercolumniation in  the  Doric  order,  of  two  triglyphs. 

(See  Monotriglypii.) 

Dodecastyle  (Gr.  bubexa,  twelve,  and  aruXog,  a column), 
a portico  of  twelve  columns  in  front.  (See  note  to 
Hexastyle.)  There  is  no  portico  of  this  description 
in  London  at  present.  The  lower  one  of  the  west  front 
of  St  Paul’s  Cathedral  (Plate  LXVIII.)  is  of  twelve  co- 
lumns, but  they  are  coupled,  making  the  arrangement 
pseudo-dodecastyle.  (See  Pseudo-Prostyle.)  The 
Chamber  of  Deputies  in  Paris  has  a true  dodecastyle. 

Dome  (Gr.  dw/iu,  a structure  of  any  kind;  whence  the 
Latin  domus,  a house  or  temple),  a cupola  or  inverted 
cup  on  a building.  The  application  of  this  term  to  its 
generally  received  purpose  is  from  the  Italian  custom 
of  calling  an  archiepiscopal  church,  by  way  of  emi- 
nence, II  duomo,  the  temple  ; for  to  one  of  that  rank, 
the  cathedral  of  Florence,  the  cupola  was  first  applied 
in  modern  practice.  The  Italians  themselves  never  call 
a cupola  a dome : it  is  on  this  side  the  Alps  the  mistake 
has  arisen,  from  the  circumstance,  it  would  appear,  that 
the  Italians  use  the  term  with  reference  to  those  struc- 
tures whose  most  distinguishing  feature  is  the  cupola, 
tholus,  or  (as  we  now  call  it)  dome.  (See  Cupola.) 

j-  Dripstone,  the  moulding  or  cornice  which  acts  as  a 
canopy  to  doors  and  windows.  Horizontal  running 
mouldings  are  sometimes  called  tablets  and  sometimes 
dripstones. 

Drops.  (See  Gutiye.) 

Echinus  (Gr.  iyjmg,  an  egg),  a moulding  of  eccentric 
curve,  which  (when  it  is  carved)  being  generally  cut 
into  the  forms  of  eggs  and  anchors  alternating,  the 
moulding  is  called  by  the  name  of  the  more  conspicu- 
ous. It  is  the  same  as  Ovalo,  q.  v. 

Elevation,  the  front,  or  facade  as  the  French  term  it,  of  a 
structure.  A geometrical  drawing  of  the  external  up- 
right parts  of  a building.  Architects  speak  of  front, 
back-front,  and  side  or  end  elevations. 

Entablature  or  Intablature  (Lat .in,  upon,  and talnda, 
a tablet).  The  superimposed  horizontal  mass  in  a co- 
lumnar ordinance,  which  rests  upon  the  tablet  or  abacus 
of  a column,  is  so  called.  It  is  conventionally  compos- 
ed of  three  parts,  architrave,  frieze,  and  cornice,  q.  v. 

Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Entasis  (Gr.  ivrutng,  a stretching  or  swelling).  Columns 
are  said  to  have  entasis  when  they  do  not  diminish  re- 
gularly, but  in  a curved  line.  (See  page  58.) 

Epistylium  or  Epistyle  (Gr.  m,  upon,  and  arvXog,  a 
column).  This  term  may  with  propriety  be  applied  to 
the  whole  entablature,  with  which  it  is  synonymous ; 
but  it  is  restricted  in  use  to  the  architrave  or  lowest 
member  of  the  entablature. 

Escape,  a term  sometimes  used  for  the  apophyge  ot  a 
column.  (See  Apophyge.) 

Eustyle  (Gr.  tv,  well,  and  aruXog,  a column),  a species 
of  intercolumniation,  to  which  a proportion  of  two  dia- 


64 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Glossary. 


meters  and  a quarter  is  assigned.  This  term,  together 
with  the  others  of  similar  import, — pycnostyle,  systyle, 
diastyle,  and  araeostyle, — referring  to  the  distances  of 
columns  from  one  another  in  composition,  is  from  Vi- 
truvius, who  assigns  to  each  the  space  it  is  to  express. 
It  will  be  seen,  however,  by  reference  to  them  indivi- 
dually, that  the  words  themselves,  though  perhaps  suf- 
ficiently applicable,  convey  no  idea  of  an  exactly  de- 
fined space,  and  by  reference  to  the  columnar  struc- 
tures of  the  ancients,  that  no  attention  was  paid  by 
them  to  such  limitations.  It  follows,  then,  that  the 
proportions  assigned  to  each  are  purely  conventional, 
and  may  or  may  not  be  attended  to  without  vitiating 
the  power  of  applying  the  terms.  Eustyle  means  the 
best  or  most  beautiful  arrangement;  but  as  the  effect 
of  a columnar  composition  depends  on  many  things  be- 
sides the  diameter  of  the  columns,  the  same  proportion- 
ed intercolumniation  would  look  well  or  ill,  according 
to  those  other  circumstances ; so  that  the  limitation  of 
eustyle  to  two  diameters  and  a quarter  is  absurd,  and 
so  it  is  in  the  case  of  the  other  similar  terms.  With 
Doric  intercolumniation  it  is  different,  as  may  be  seen 
by  reference  to  the  word  Monotriglyph. 

FA9ADE,  (See  Elevation.) 

Fascia  (Lat.  a band).  The  narrow  vertical  bands  or 
broad  fillets  into  which  the  architraves  of  Corinthian 
and  Ionic  entablatures  are  divided,  are  called  fasciae  or 
fascias ; and  the  term  is  generally  applied  to  any  simi- 
lar member  in  architecture. 

f Featherings.  (See  Foliations.) 

Fillet,  a narrow  vertical  band  or  listel,  of  frequent  use 
in  congeries  of  mouldings,  to  separate  and  combine 
them,  and  also  to  give  breadth  and  firmness  to  the 
upper  edge  of  a crowning  cyma  or  cavetto,  as  in  an 
external  cornice.  The  narrow  slips  or  breadths  between 
the  flutes  of  Corinthian  and  Ionic  columns  are  also  call- 
ed fillets. 

f Finial  (Lat .finis,  the  end).  This  term  is  equivalent 
to  the  Greek  Acroterium.  It  is  applied  to  the  carved 
apex  of  pediments,  piers,  pinnacles,  and  canopies. 

Flute,  a concave  channel.  Columns  whose  shafts  are 
channelled  are  said  to  be  fluted,  and  the  flutes  are  col- 
lectively called  flutings. 

■f  Foliations  or  Featherings,  small  arches  meeting  in 
points  or  cusps,  which  are  plain  or  enriched.  They  are 
used  as  an  enrichment  in  tracery,  and  are  distinguish- 
ed as  trefoils,  quatrefoils,  and  cinquefoils,  as  the  case 
may  be. 

Frieze  (Ital .fregio,  from  the  Lat.  plirygionius , enriched 
or  embroidered),  that  portion  of  an  entablature  between 
the  cornice  above  and  the  architrave  below.  Plate 
LXVI.  fig.  1.  It  derives  its  name  from  being  the  reci- 
pient of  the  sculptured  enrichments  either  of  foliage  or 
figures  which  may  be  relevant  to  the  object  of  the 
structure.  The  frieze  is  also  called  the  zoophorus,  q.  v. 

Frontispiece,  the  front  or  principal  elevation  of  a struc- 
ture. This  term,  however,  is  generally  restricted  in 
application  to  a decorated  entrance. 

Gable.  When  a roof  is  not  hipped  or  returned  on  itself 
at  the  ends,  its  ends  are  stopped  by  carrying  up  the 
walls  under  them  in  the  triangular  form  of  the  roof  it- 
self. This  is  called  the  gable,  or,  indeed,  the  pediment. 
The  latter  term,  however,  is  restricted  to  the  ornamen- 


tal and  ornamented  gable ; and  gable  itself  is  applied  Glossary, 
to  a plain  triangular  end. 

Gradino  (Ital.  dim.  of  gradus,  a step).  Architects  fre- 
quently use  the  plural  of  this  term,  gradini,  and  to  gra- 
dinate,  instead  of  the  English,  steps,  and  to  graduate, 
perhaps  without  sufficient  reason,  though  they  find 
them  useful  to  distinguish  what  they  intend  from  the 
meaning  of  the  latter  words  in  their  ordinary  accepta- 
tion. 

Groining.  In  vaulting  or  arching  over  from  insulated 
piers,  the  cross  vaults  meet  in  angles,  and  lead  to  a 
common  centre  or  apex.  This  is  called  groining. 

Guiloche  or  Guilochos  (Gr.  ywov,  a member,  and  Xo%o{, 
a snare).  An  interlaced  ornament  like  network,  used 
most  frequently  to  enrich  the  torus.  Plate  LXI. 

Guttle  (Lat.  drops).  The  small  cylindrical  drops  used 
to  enrich  the  mutules  and  regula;  of  the  Doric  entabla- 
ture are  so  called. 

Helix  (Gr.  sX/g,  a wreath  or  ringlet),  used  synonymous- 
ly with  Cauliculus,  q.  v.  It  forms  in  the  plural  He- 
lices. 

Hemiglyph  (Gr.  riyiovs,  half,  and  yXutpri,  an  incision  or 
channel).  The  half-channels,  or  rather  chamfered 
edges,  of  a triglyph  tablet,  may  be  so  called.  The  two 
hemiglyphs  are  included  to  make  the  third  channel, 
and  complete  the  triglyph.  (See  Triglyph.) 

IIexastyle  (Gr.  sg,  six,  and  tfruXoj,  a column).  A por- 
tico of  six  columns  in  front1  is  of  this  description.  Most 
of  the  churches  in  London  which  have  porticoes  have 
hexa-prostyles.  (See  Prostyle.) 

Hypotiral.  (See  Hypa;thros.) 

PlYPiETiiRos  (Gr.  iwro,  under,  and  aiSga,  the  air),  a 
temple  open  to  the  air,  or  uncovered.  The  Greeks  fre- 
quently made  the  temples  of  the  supreme  divinities 
hypaethral.  For  instance,  those  of  Jupiter  Olympius  at 
Agrigentum  in  Sicily,  of  Neptune  at  Paestum,  and  of 
Minerva  Parthenon  at  Athens,  are  all  of  this  descrip- 
tion. The  term  may  be  the  more  easily  understood  by 
supposing  the  roof  removed  from  over  the  nave  of  a 
church  in  which  columns  or  piers  go  up  from  the  floor 
to  the  ceiling,  leaving  the  aisles  still  covered.  In  that 
case  it  would  be  hypaethral,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Greek  hypaethros.  The  Pantheon  in  Rome  having  an 
opening  in  the  centre  of  the  dome,  is  thereby  rendered 
hypaethral.  See  Plates  LVII.  and  LXIV.  fig.  4 and  5. 

Hyfogea  (Gr.  a-o,  upon,  and  yrj,  the  earth).  Construc- 
tions under  the  surface  of  the  earth,  or  into  the  sides  of 
a hill  or  mountain,  are  hypogea. 

Hypotracheliqm  (Gr.  iino,  upon,  and  rgaj^jjXos,  the  neck), 
the  part  forming  the  junction  of  the  shaft  with  the 
capital  of  a column ; the  neck  of  the  capital  itself.  In 
some  styles  it  is  a projecting  fillet  or  moulding,  and  in 
others,  as  the  Doric,  it  is  composed  of  a channel  or 
groove,  and  sometimes  of  more  than  one.  Plate  LXVI. 
fig.  1. 

Jamb,  the  side-post  or  lining  of  a door-way  or  other 
aperture.  The  jambs  of  a window  outside  the  frame 
are  called  reveals. 

Ichnograpiiy  (Gr.  r/voi,  a footstep  or  track,  and  ygafjj, 
a description  or  representation).  A plan,  or  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  site  of  an  object  on  a horizontal  plane, 
is  its  ichnography.  The  term  plan  (q.  v.)  is,  however, 
much  more  frequently  used  than  this. 


* The  words  “ in  front”  are  used  to  prevent  the  mistake  which  might  arise  from  a supposition  that  all  the  columns  in  a portico 
should  be  counted  to  designate  it.  The  porticoes  of  the  churches  of  St  Martin  in  the  Fields,  and  St  Mary-le-bone,  in  London,  for 
instance,  have  eight  columns  each,  but  are  lieXastyle,  there  being  but  six  in  their  front  rows. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Glossary.  Impost  (Lat.  impositus,  laid  upon).  The  horizontal  con- 
geries  of  mouldings  forming  the  capital  of  a pier,  or  edge 
pilaster,  which  has  to  support  one  leg  of  an  arch,  is  call- 
ed the  impost;  sometimes,  and  more  conveniently,  this 
term  is  used  for  the  pilaster  itself,  when  its  capital  is 
called  the  impost  cap  or  impost  mouldings. 

Xntercolumniation  (Lat.  inter,  between,  and  column, 
q.  v.).  The  distance  from  column  to  column,  the  clear 
space  between  columns,  is  called  the  intercolumniation. 

-j-  Label,  the  level  moulding  or  dripstone  over  a door 
or  window,  common  in  the  later  Pointed  works.  It  is 
generally  turned  down  at  the  ends  at  right  angles,  and 
slightly  returned  again  horizontally  and  outwards. 

Lacunar  (Lat.),  a panelled  or  coffered  ceiling  or  soffit. 
The  panels  or  cassoons  of  a ceiling  are  more  classically 
called  lacunaria. 

f Lantern  (Lat.  lanlerna ),  a turret  raised  above  a roof 
or  tower,  and  very  much  pierced,  the  better  to  trans- 
mit light.  In  modern  practice  this  term  is  generally 
applied  to  any  raised  part  in  a roof  or  ceiling,  contain- 
ing vertical  windows,  but  covered  in  horizontally. 

Metope  (Gr.  /iirovri,  a middle  space),  the  square  recess 
between  the  triglyphs  in  a Doric  frieze.  It  is  sometimes 
occupied  by  sculptures.  Plates  LVII.  and  LVIII.  fig.  4. 

Mezzanine  (Ital.  mezzanino , dim.  of  mezzo,  the  middle), 
a low  story  between  two  lofty  ones.  It  is  called  by  the 
French  entresol,  or  inter-story. 

Modillion  (Lat.  modulus,  a measure  of  proportion),  so 
called  because  of  its  arrangement  in  regulated  distances; 
the  enriched  block  or  horizontal  bracket  generally 
found  under  the  cornice  of  the  Corinthian  entablature. 
Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1.  Less  ornamented,  it  is  sometimes 
used  in  the  Ionic.  See  also  Mutule. 

Module  (Lat.  modidus , a modus,  a measure  or  rule).  This 
is  a term  which  has  been  generally  used  by  architects 
in  determining  the  relative  proportions  of  the  various 
parts  of  a columnar  ordinance.  The  semidiameter  of 
the  column  is  the  module,  which  being  divided  into 
thirty  parts  called  minutes,  any  part  of  the  composition 
is  said  to  be  of  so  many  modules  and  minutes,  or  minutes 
alone,  in  height,  breadth,  or  projection.  The  whole 
diameter  is  now  generally  preferred  as  a modus,  it  being 
a better  rule  of  proportion  than  its  half. 

Monopteral.  (See  Monopteros.) 

Monopteros  (Gr.  flows,  one,  or  single,  and  irrsjov,  awing). 
This  term  is  incorrectly  used  by  Vitruvius  to  describe 
a temple  composed  of  a circular  range  of  columns  sup- 
porting a tholus,  cupola,  or  dome,  but  without  walls. 
(See  Peripteral.)  Such  an  edifice  would  be  more 
correctly  designated  as  Cyclostylar,  q.  v. 

Monotriglyph  (Gr.ftows,  one,  or  single,  and  triglyph,  q.  v.). 

- The  intercolumniations  of  the  Doric  order  are  determin- 
ed by  the  number  of  triglyphs  which  intervene,  instead 
of  the  number  of  diameters  of  the  column,  as  in  other 
cases ; and  this  term  designates  the  ordinary  interco- 
lumniation of  one  triglyph.  Plate  LVIII.  fig.  1. 

Mouldings,  eccentric  curves  of  various  kinds,  intended 
to  enrich  and  ornament,  by  producing  light  and  shade, 
and  obviating  the  monotony  attendant  on  many  flat 
and  angular  surfaces.  They  may  be  variously  carved 
to  increase  their  efficiency.  The  most  usual  forms  of 
mouldings  are  called  the  cyma-recta  and  reversa, 
cavetto,  scotia,  torus,  astragal  or  bead,  and  the  echinus 
or  ovalo,  q.  v.  Plate  LXI.  In  Pointed  architecture, 
mouldings  are  not  limited  either  to  those  names  or  to 
the  forms  they  are  intended  to  designate,  nor  indeed  is 
any  other  style,  except  by  absurd  custom  and  authority. 

f Mullion,  the  columnar  vertical  bar  used  to  divide  a 


window  into  breadths ; the  trunk  out  of  which  tracery  Glossai 
flows.  " 

Mutule  (Lat.  mutulus,  a stay  or  bracket),  the  rect- 
angular impending  blocks  under  the  corona  of  the  Doric 
cornice,  from  which  guttae  or  drops  depend.  Mutule  is 
equivalent  to  modillion,  but  the  latter  term  is  applied 
more  particularly  to  enriched  blocks  or  brackets,  such 
as  those  of  Ionic  and  Corinthian  entablatures. 

Naos  (Gr.  mos,  a temple).  This  term  is  sometimes  used 
instead  of  the  Latin  Celia,  as  applied  to  the  interior ; 
strictly,  however,  it  means  the  body  of  the  edifice  itself, 
and  not  merely  its  interior  or  cell. 

Newel,  the  solid  or  hollow  column  or  cylinder  which  bears 
up  the  handrail  of  a staircase  at  the  foot  and  in  the  most 
material  parts.  It  means  also  the  core  or  hollow,  as  the 
case  may  be,  about  which  a circular  staircase  winds. 

Niche,  a concave  recess  in  a wall,  with  a straight  or 
circular  head.  Niches  are  generally  made  to  receive 
statues,  vases,  &c. 

Octastyle  (Gr.  oxrca,  eight,  and  arukos,  a column).  A por- 
tico of  eight  columns  in  front.  (See  note  to  Hexastyle.) 

There  is  no  portico  in  London  of  this  description  at  pre- 
sent, though  the  upper  one  of  the  west  front  of  St  Paul’s 
(Plate  LXVIII.)  is  of  eight  columns ; but  they  are 
coupled,  making  the  arrangement  tetrastyle.  It  may 
indeed  be  called  a pseudo-octa-prostyle.  (See  Pseudo- 
prostyle.) 

Ogee,  the  vulgar  name  for  the  Cyma,  q.  v. 

Qpisthodomus  (Gr.  oiusdw,  behind,  and  bo/iog,  a house  or 
other  edifice),  the  part  behind  a Greek  temple  corre- 
sponding with  the  Pronaos  before  it.  (See  Pronaos.) 

Order.  A column  with  its  entablature  and  stylobate  is 
so  called.  (Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1.)  The  term  is  the  result 
of  the  dogmatic  laws  deduced  from  the  writings  of  Vi- 
truvius, and  has  been  exclusively  applied  to  those  ar- 
rangements which  they  were  thought  to  warrant. 

Ordinance,  a composition  of  some  particular  order  or 
style.  It  need  not,  however,  be  restricted  to  a columnar 
composition,  for  it  will  apply  to  any  species  which  is 
subjected  to  conventional  rules  for  its  arrangement. 

Orthography  (Gr.  oodog,  straight  or  true,  and  ygap»j,  a 
description  or  representation).  A geometrical  elevation 
of  a building  or  other  object,  in  which  it  is  represent- 
ed as  it  actually  exists,  or  may  exist,  and  not  perspee- 
tively,  or  as  it  would  appear,  is  called  its  orthography. 

Orthostyle  (Gr.  ogdog,  straight  or  true,  and  cruXog,  a 
column),  any  straight  range  of  columns.  This  is  a 
term  suggested  to  designate  what  is  generally  but  im- 
properly called  a peristyle,  q.  v. ; that  is,  columns  in 
a straight  row  or  range,  but  not  forming  a portico. 

Ovalo  (Ital.),  egg-formed  (see  Echinus).  This  is  the 
name  most  commonly  applied  to  the  moulding  which 
appears  to  have  originated  in  the  moulded  head  of  the 
Doric  column,  and,  with  an  abacus,  forming  its  capital. 

Panel,  a compartment  with  raised  margins,  moulded 
or  otherwise.  Deep  panels  in  a ceiling  are  called  Cas- 
soons and  Lacunaria,  q.  v. 

Parapet  (Ital.  parapetto,  against  the  breast,  or  breast- 
high),  the  low  breast-high  wall  which  is  used  to  front 
terraces  and  balconies,  to  flank  bridges,  &c.  The  most 
common  application  of  the  term  in  this  country  is  to  so 
much  of  the  external  walls  of  a house  as  stands  above 
the  level  gutters  of  the  roof  behind. 

Parastas  (Gr.  wagatfm s,  standing  before),  an  antas  or 
end  pilaster.  This  is  the  Greek  term  for  which  the 
Latin  antae  is  generally  used,  and  it  lias  the  same  mean- 
ing. (See  Ant.®.) 


66 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Glossary- 


Pedestal  (Gr.  nrovs,  a foot,  and  tfrvXog,  a column).  An 
insulated  stylobate  is  for  the  most  part  so  called.  The 
term  is,  moreover,  generally  applied  to  any  parallelo- 
gramic  or  cylindrical  mass  used  as  the  basement  of  any 
single  object,  as  a statue  or  vase. 

Pediment,  that  part  of  a portico  which  rises  above  its 
entablature  to  cover  the  end  of  the  roof,  whose  trian- 
gular form  it  takes.  The  cornice  of  the  entablature, 
or  its  corona  and  part  of  the  bed-mould  only,  with  the 
addition  of  a cymatium,  bounds  its  inclined  sides,  and 
joins  in  an  obtuse  angle  at  the  apex.  In  Pointed  archi- 
tecture, however,  the  angle  of  a pediment  is  for  the 
most  part  acute. 

•j-  Pendent  (Lat.  pendens , hanging).  In  some  of  the 
later  works  of  the  Pointed  style,  large  masses  depend 
from  enriched  ceilings,  and  appear  to  be  formed  by  the 
other  legs  of  intersecting  arches : these  are  called  pen- 
dents. They  also  occur  in  canopies.  See  Plate  LXXV. 
fig.  1,  8,  9,  11,  and  12. 

Peribolus  (Gr.  around  or  about,  and  CaXXco,  to  gird 
or  throw  around),  an  inclosure.  Any  inclosed  space 
is  a peribolus ; but  the  term  is  applied  more  particu- 
larly to  the  sacred  inclosure  about  a temple.  The  wall 
forming  the  inclosure  is  also  called  the  peribolus. 

Peripteral.  (See  Peripteros.) 

Peripteros  (Gr.  kipi,  around  or  about,  and  vrigov,  a wing). 
A temple  or  other  structure  with  the  columns  of  its 
end,  prostyles  or  porticoes,  returned  on  its  sides  or 
wings,  and  one  intercolumniation  distant  from  the  walls. 
Almost  all  the  Doric  temples  of  the  Greeks  were  pe- 
ripteral. The  term  is,  however,  incorrectly  applied  by 
Vitruvius  to  peristylar  structures,  though  it  is  clear  that 
a perfectly  round  building,  such  as  he  describes  to  be 
peripteral,  cannot  be  said  to  be  winged  or  to  have  wings. 

Peristylar,  having  a peristyle.  (See  Peristyle.) 

Peristyle  (Gr.  mp,  around  or  about,  and  ervXog,  a co- 
lumn), a range  of  columns  encircling  an  edifice,  such 
as  that  which  surrounds  the  cylindrical  drum  under  the 
cupola  of  St  Paul’s.  The  columns  of  a Greek  perip- 
teral temple  form  a peristyle  also,  the  former  being  a 
circular  and  the  latter  a quadrilateral  peristyle.  The 
same  term  is  generally  but  incorrectly  applied  to  a 
range  of  columns  in  almost  any  situation  when  they  do 
not  form  a portico.  (See  Orthostyle.) 

Pier.  The  solid  parts  of  a wall  between  windows,  and 
between  openings  generally,  are  called  piers.  The  term 
is  also  applied  to  masses  of  brickwork  or  masonry, 
which  are  insulated  to  form  supports  to  gates  or  to 
carry  arches. 

Pilaster  (Lat.  pila,  a pillar,  and  the  Ital.  augmentative 
astro,  which  indicates  an  inferior  quality),  an  inferior 
sort  of  column  or  pillar ; a projection  from  or  against 
a pier,  having  the  form  and  decorations  of  antae,  when 
used  correctly ; but  too  frequently  they  have  capitals, 
like  those  of  columns,  assigned  them. 

Pillar  (Lat.  pila,  and  Ital.  piliere ),  a columnar  mass 
of  no  particular  form.  Columns  are  vulgarly  called 
pillars ; but  architects  make  a distinction,  restricting 
this  term  to  such  pillars  as  do  not  come  within  the  de- 
scription of  a column.  (See  Column.) 

Pillowed.  A swollen  or  rounded  frieze  is  said  to  be 
pillowed  or  pulvinated. 

f Pinnacle,  the  slender  tapering  head  of  a turret  or 
buttress.  A small  spire,  or  the  head  of  a spire  or 
steeple. 

Plan,  a horizontal  geometrical  section  of  the  walls  of 
a building ; or  indications,  on  a horizontal  plane,  of  the 
relative  positions  of  the  walls  and  partitions,  with  the 
various  openings,  such  as  windows  and  doors, — recesses 
and  projections,  as  chimneys  and  chimney-breasts, — 


columns,  pilasters,  &c.  This  term  is  often  incorrectly  Glossary- 
used  in  the  sense  of  Design,  q.  v. 

Planceer  is  sometimes  used  in  the  same  sense  as  soffit, 
but  incorrectly,  as  it  is  from  the  French  plancher,  to 
board  or  floor.  It  is  more  particularly  applied  to  the 
soffit  of  the  corona  in  a cornice. 

Plinth  (Gr.  tXaDoj,  a square  tile).  In  the  Roman  orders 
the  lowest  member  of  the  base  of  a column  is  square 
and  vertically  faced  ; this  is  called  a plinth. 

Polytriglyph  (Gr.  mkvs,  many,  and  triglyph,  q.  v.). 

An  intercolumniation  in  the  Doric  order  of  more  than 
two  triglyphs.  (See  Monotriglyph  and  Ditri- 
glyph.) 

Portico  (an  Italicism  of  the  Lat.  Portions),  an  open 
space  before  the  door  or  other  entrance  to  any  build- 
ing, fronted  with  columns.  A portico  is  distinguished 
as  prostyle,  or  in  antis,  as  it  may  project  from  or  recede 
within  the  building,  and  is  designated  with  either  of 
these  terms  by  the  number  of  columns  its  front  may 
consist  of.  (See  Distyle,  Tetrastyle,  Hexastyle, 
OcTASTYLE,  &C.) 

Porticus  (Lat.  See  Portico).  In  an  amphiprostylar  or 
peripteral  temple,  this  term  is  used  to  distinguish  the 
portico  at  the  entrance  from  that  behind,  which  is 
called  the  posticum. 

Posticum  (Lat.).  A portico  behind  a temple.  (See 
Porticus  and  Portico.) 

Pronaos  (Gr.  ergo,  before,  and  vaoj,  a temple).  The  inner 
portico  of  a temple,  or  the  space  between  the  porticus, 
or  outer  portico,  and  the  door  opening  into  the  cella. 

This  is  a conventional  use  of  the  term ; for,  strictly,  the 
pronaos  is  the  portico  itself. 

Propylasum  (Gr.  ergo,  before,  and  ervX»j,  a portal),  any 
structure  or  structures  forming  the  entrance  to  the  pe- 
ribolus of  a temple ; also  the  space  lying  between  the 
entrance  and  the  temple.  In  common  usage  this  term, 
in  the  plural  (propylaea),  is  almost  restricted  to  the  en- 
trance to  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  which  is  known  by 
it  as  a name. 

Prostyle  (Gr.  ergo,  before,  and  an\o{,  a column).  A 
portico  in  which  the  columns  project  from  the  building 
to  which  it  is  attached  is  called  a prostyle.  It  is  tau- 
tologous  to  say  a prostyle  portico, — a prostyle  is  a por- 
tico. Custom,  however,  seems  to  warrant  the  impro- 
priety, for  the  word  portico  is  always  superadded.  In 
determining  the  number  of  columns  of  which  a portico 
consists,  the  Greek  numerals  are  prefixed  to  the  term 
Style,  q.  v.,  and  prostyle  is  repeated.  It  would  be 
more  concise,  and,  at  the  least,  equally  correct,  to  put 
the  numeral  before  prostyle,  and  say  tetra-prostyle, 
hexa-prostyle,  &c.  instead  of  tetrastyle-prostyle,  &c. ; 
as  the  custom  is ; that  mode  is  adopted  in  this  article 
throughout. 

Pseudo-dipteral  (Gr.  false,  and  dipteral,  q.  ?;.), 

false  double-winged.  When  the  inner  row  of  columns 
of  a dipteral  arrangement  is  omitted,  and  the  space 
from  the  wall  of  the  building  to  the  columns  is  pre- 
served of  the  consequent  double  projection,  it  is  pseudo- 
dipteral. The  portico  of  the  London  University  is 
pseudo-dipterally  arranged,  the  returning  columns  on 
the  ends  or  sides  not  being  carried  through  behind 
those  in  front. 

Pseudo-peripteral  (Gr.  -v^aebjj,  false,  and  peripteral, 
q.  v.),  false-winged.  A temple  having  the  columns 
on  its  flanks  attached  to  the  walls,  instead  of  being  ar- 
ranged as  in  a peripteros,  is  said  to  be  pseudo-peripteral. 

Pseudo-prostyle  (Gr.  -vJ/jufojf,  false,  and  prostyle,  q.  v.). 

This  is  a term  not  in  general  use,  but  is  suggested  to 
designate  a portico  projecting  less  than  the  space  from 
one  column  to  another,  as  the  western  porticoes  to  St 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Glossary.  Paul’s  Cathedral,  and  the  portico  to  the  East  India 
House,  in  London ; but  that  they  are  recessed  also,  and 
therefore  may  be  described  as  pseudo-prostyle  and  re- 
cessed. The  front  of  Trinity  Church  in  the  new  road, 
near  the  Regent’s  Park,  in  London  also,  presents  a 
mere  pseudo-prostyle. 

Pulvinated  (Lat.  pulvinus,  a cushion  or  bolster),  a 
term  used  to  express  the  swelling  or  bolstering  of  the 
frieze  which  is  found  in  some  of  the  inferior  works  of 
the  Roman  school,  and  is  common  in  Italian  practice. 
It  is  used  indifferently  with  pillowed. 

Pycnostyle  (Gr.  mnivog,  dense,  and  GruXog,  a column), 
columns  thickly  set.  The  space  or  intercolumniation 
assigned  to  this  term  is  one  diameter  and  a half.  (See 
Eustyle.) 

f Quatre-foil,  tracery  in  four  foliations  or  featherings ; 
but  applicable  only  to  circular  or  square  panels,  and 
not  to  arches. 

Quoin  (Lat.  ancon,  an  elbow  or  corner,  whence  the  Lr. 
coin),  a corner-stone.  The  stones  which  are  made 
to  project  from  the  regular  surface  of  the  walls  at  the 
angles  of  a building  are  technically  called  quoins.  The 
front  of  the  Farnese  Palace  exemplifies  them.  (See 
Plate  LXX.) 

Regula  (Lat.),  a rule  or  square.  The  short  fillet  or  rect- 
angular block,  under  the  taenia,  on  the  architrave  of  the 
Doric  entablature,  is  so  called. 

f Rose  or  Catherine-wheel  Window,  the  large  cir- 
cular window  filled  with  various  tracery,  which  is  com- 
mon in  the  upper  part  of  transept  fronts  in  churches 
and  cathedrals.  Plate  LXXII.  fig.  1. 

Scotia  (Gr.  tfjcor/a,  shadow  or  darkness),  a concave 
moulding,  most  commonly  used  in  bases,  which  projects 
a deeper  shadow  on  itself  than  any  other  form  would 
possess  in  an  underview  position.  It  is  like  a reversed 
ovalo,  or  rather  what  the  mould  of  an  ovalo  would  pre- 
sent. Plate  LXI. 

Scroll,  synonymous  with  volute.  The  term  scroll  is 
commonly  applied  to  the  more  ordinary  purposes,  while 
volute  is  generally  restricted  to  the  scrolls  of  the  Ionic 
capital. 

Section,  a drawing  showing  the  internal  heights  of  the 
various  parts  of  a building.  It  supposes  it  to  be  cut 
through  entirely,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  walls,  the  heights 
of  the  internal  doors,  and  other  apertures ; the  heights 
of  the  stories,  thicknesses  of  the  floors,  &c.  It  is  one 
of  the  species  of  drawings  necessary  to  the  exhibition 
of  a Design,  q.  v. 

Shaft.  The  body  or  tapering  cylindrical  mass  of  a co- 
lumn, from  the  base  below  to  the  capital  above,  is  so 
called.  Plate  LXVI.  fig.  1. 

Sill  or  Sole  (Lat.  solum,  a threshold,  whence  the  Fr. 
seuil).  The  horizontal  base  of  a door  or  window-frame 
is  called  its  sill,  though  in  practice  a technical  distinc- 
tion is  made  between  the  inner  or  wooden  base  of  the 
windovv-frame  and  the  stone  base  on  which  it  rests, 
the  latter  being  called  the  sill  of  the  window,  and  the 
former  that  of  its  frame.  This  term  is  not  restricted 
to  the  bases  of  apertures ; the  lower  horizontal  part  of 
a framed  partition  is  called  its  sill.  It  is  often  incor- 
rectly written  cill. 

Soffit  (Ital.  sojfitla,  a ceiling),  the  inverted  horizontal 
face  of  any  thing.  The  horizontal  face  of  an  entabla- 
ture resting  on,  and  lying  open  between,  the  columns, 
is  its  soffit.  The  underface  of  an  arch,  where  its  thick- 
ness is  seen,  is  its  soffit. 

Spandrel.  The  unoccupied  angles,  or  rather  the  ex- 


67 

eluded  triangles,  of  a square,  described  about  a circle,  Glossary, 
are  called  spandrels;  whence  almost  any  triangular 
space  is  designated  by  the  same  term. 

f Spire,  the  tapering  mass  which  forms  the  summit  of  a 
steeple. 

Steeple.  This  term  is  used  in  contradistinction  to  tower, 
the  latter  being  upright,  or  nearly  so,  and  terminating 
almost  abruptly,  or  with  pinnacles,  and  the  steeple  run- 
ning to  a point  with  sides  converging  from  the  base  up- 
wards, or  from  a certain  height  only. 

Stele  (Gr.  arrikr\,  a cippus  or  small  monument).  The  or- 
naments on  the  ridge  of  a Greek  temple,  answering  to 
the  antefixae  on  the  summit  of  the  flank  entablatures, 
are  thus  designated. 

Stereobate  (Gr.  Gngiog,  firm  or  solid,  and  Caaig,  a base 
or  fulciment),  a basement.  It  is  sought  to  make  a 
distinction  between  this  term  and  Stylobate,  q.  v.,  by 
restricting  the  latter  to  its  real  import,  and  applying 
stereobate  to  a basement  in  the  absence  of  columns. 

Stoa  (Gr.  aroa,  a portico).  This  is  the  Greek  equivalent 
for  the  Latin  porticus  and  the  Italo-English  portico, 
q.  v. 

String  or  String-course,  a narrow,  vertical-faced,  and 
slightly  projecting  course  in  an  elevation.  If  window- 
sills are  made  continuous,  they  form  a string-course; 
but  if  this  course  is  made  thicker  or  deeper  than  ordi- 
nary window-sills,  it  becomes  a blocking-course. 

Style  (Gr.  crvXog,  a column).  The  term  style  is  of  very 
constant  use  in  the  composition  of  architectural  names 
and  distinctions,  and  in  those  compositions  it  is  not  to 
be  understood  in  its  ordinary  and  almost  unlimited  ap- 
plication, but  in  its  simple  and  original  meaning, — a 
column.  It  is,  however,  not  used  in  that  sense  unless  in 
composition ; but  in  its  ordinary  acceptation  it  is  applied 
to  the  varieties  of  architecture,  as  the  Greek  and  Ro- 
man styles,  &c. 

Stylobate  (Gr.  Grukog,  a column,  and  Qaaig,  a base  or 
fulciment),  a basement  to  columns.  (See  Stereobate.) 

Stylobate  is  synonymous  with  pedestal,  but  is  applied 
to  a continued  and  unbroken  substructure  or  basement 
to  columns,  while  the  latter  term  is  confined  to  insu- 
lated supports. 

Surbase  (Lat.  super,  whence  the  Fr.  sur,  above  or  upon, 
and  base,  q.  v.),  an  upper  base.  This  term  is  applied 
to  what,  in  the  fittings  of  a room,  is  familiarly  called  the 
chair-rail.  It  is  also  used  to  designate  the  cornice  of  a 
pedestal  or  stereobate,  and  is  separated  from  the  base 
by  the  dado  or  die. 

Systyle  (Gr.  cuv,  together  with,  and  arukog,  a column), 
columns  rather  thickly  set.  An  intercolumniation  to 
which  two  diameters  are  assigned.  (See  Eustyle.) 

j-  Tabernacle,  a canopied  recess  or  niche.  The  rich  or- 
namental tracery  forming  the  canopy,  &c.  to  a taber- 
nacle, is  called  tabernacle-work : it  is  common  in  the 
stalls  and  screens  of  cathedrals,  and  in  them  is  general- 
ly open  or  pierced  through. 

j-  Tablet.  Projecting  mouldings,  or  moulded  strings  in 
the  Pointed  style,  are  better  described  as  tablets  than 
as  cornices. 

TjEnia  (Lat.)  a band.  (See  Band.) 

Terminal.  Figures  of  which  the  upper  parts  only,  or 
perhaps  the  head  and  shoulders  alone,  are  carved,  the 
rest  running  into  a parallelopiped,  and  sometimes  into 
a diminishing  pedestal,  with  feet  indicated  below,  or 
even  without  them,  are  called  terminal  figures. 

Tetrastoon  (Gr.  rtrga,  four,  and  area,  a portico).  An 
atrium  or  rectangular  court-yard,  having  a colonnade 
or  projected  orthostyle  on  every  side,  is  called  a tetra- 
stobn. 


G8  ARC  H ITECTUR  E. 


Descrip-  Tetrastyle  (Gr.  reroa,  four,  and  ffu/Xog,  a column),  a 
lions  of  portico  of  four  columns  in  front.  (See  note  to  Hexa- 
Plates.  style.) 

Tholobate  (Gr.  dokog,  a dome  or  cupola,  and  ZaSig,  a 
base  or  substructure),  that  on  which  a dome  or  cupola 
rests.  This  is  a term  not  in  general  use,  but  not  the  less 
of  useful  application.  What  is  generally  termed  the 
attic  above  the  peristyle  and  under  the  cupola  of  St 
Paul’s,  would  be  correctly  designated  the  tholobate.  A 
tholobate  of  a different  description,  and  one  to  which 
no  other  name  can  well  be  applied,  is  the  circular  sub- 
structure to  the  cupola  of  the  London  University. 

Tholus  or  Tholos  (Gr.),  a dome  or  cupola,  or  any  round 
edifice.  This  is  the  only  term  used  by  Greek  writers 
that  can  be  supposed  to  apply  to  the  conical  chambers 
which  approach,  in  internal  form,  to  that  of  the  modern 
cupola  or  dome,  and  is  therefore  made  the  Greek  equi- 
valent for  those  terms. 

Torus  (Lat.),  a protuberance  or  swelling,  a moulding 
whose  form  is  convex,  and  generally  nearly  approaches 
a semicircle.  It  is  most  frequently  used  in  bases,  and 
is  for  the  most  part  the  lowest  moulding  in  a base. 
Plate  LXI. 

Tower,  a circular,  square,  or  polygonal  structure,  with 
upright  or  slightly  converging  sides,  running  to  a height 
equal  to  or  greater  than  its  diameter  or  base,  and  ter- 
minating abruptly  or  in  horizontal  lines.  A tower  may 
be  flanked  by  buttresses  whose  pinnacles  surmount  it, 
and  be  superimposed  by  a turret,  lantern,  or  spire. 

-j-  Tracery.  The  transoms,  mullions,  and  interlaced  or 
flowing  continuations  of  the  latter,  with  their  foliations 
in  windows,  on  doors,  panels,  and  in  tabernacle-work, 
are  so  called.  The  ribs  on  groined  ceilings,  and  almost 
all  eccentric  moulded  enrichments,  come  under  the 
same  denomination. 

Trachelium  (Gr.  the  neck).  In  Doric  and 

Ionic  columns  there  is  generally  a short  space  inter- 
vening the  hypotrachelium  and  the  mass  of  the  capital, 
which  may  be  called  the  trachelium  or  neck. 


■f  Transom,  the  horizontal  bar  used  to  divide  a mullioned  Descrip- 
window  into  heights ; the  straight  and  horizontal  parts  tions  oi' 
of  tracery. 

f Trefoil,  tracery  in  three  foliations  or  featherings. 

Triglyph  (Gr.  rgug,  three,  and  y\u<pri,  an  incision  or 
channel).  The  vertically  channelled  tablets  of  the 
Doric  frieze  are  called  triglyphs,  because  of  the  three 
angular  channels  in  them,  two  perfect  and  one  divided ; 
the  two  chamfered  angles  or  hemiglyphs  being  reckon- 
ed as  one.  The  square  sunk  spaces  between  the  tri- 
glyphs on  a frieze  are  called  metopes, 

•f  Turret,  a small  tower,  or  a tower  of  small  base  in 
proportion  to  its  height.  Turrets  are  sometimes  placed 
on  the  angles  of  towers ; but  in  the  later  works  of  the 
style  they  are  attached  to  the  angles  of  structures  in- 
stead of  buttresses,  and  they  run  up  above  their  height 
in’ lieu  of  pinnacles. 

Tympanum,  the  triangular  recessed  space  inclosed  by  the 
cornice  which  bounds  a pediment.  The  Greeks  some- 
times placed  sculptures  representing  subjects  in  con- 
nection with  the  purposes  of  the  edifice,  in  the  tym- 
pana of  temples. 

Vault,  an  arched  ceiling  or  roof.  A vault  is,  indeed,  a 
laterally  conjoined  series  of  arches.  The  arch  of  a 
bridge  is,  strictly  speaking,  a vault.  Intersecting  vaults 
are  said  to  be  groined.  (See  Groining.) 

Volute  (Lat.  volutum , a volvo,  rolling  up  or  over,  con- 
volving). The  convolved  or  spiral  ornament  which 
forms  the  characteristic  of  the  Ionic  capital  is  so  called. 

The  common  English  term  is  scroll,  q.  v.  Volute, 
scroll,  helix,  and  cauliculus,  are  used  indifferently  for 
the  angular  horns  of  the  Corinthian  capital. 

Zoophorus  (Gr.  an  animal,  and  to  bear).  This 
term  is  used  in  the  same  sense  as  frieze,  and  is  so  call- 
ed because  that  part  of  the  entablature  is  made  the  re- 
ceptacle of  sculptures  which  are  frequently  composed 
of  various  animals. 


DESCRIPTIONS  AND  EXPLANATIONS  OF  THE  PLATES. 


Plate  LIV.  The  view  of  the  Parthenon  in  its  present  state 
is  from  an  original  drawing  made  on  the  spot  in  the  year 
1821,  by  Mr  W.  W.  Jenkins.  It  consequently  exhibits 
the  appearance  of  the  splendid  ruin  before  the  disasters 
of  the  late  revolution  befell  it,  as  the  restored  view,  un- 
der the  same  aspect,  does  of  the  structure  in  its  origi- 
nal state.  This  is  introduced  as  a frontispiece  to  the 
subject,  as  being  an  acknowledged  master-work  of  archi- 
tecture, as  well  as  to  enable  the  reader  the  better  to 
understand  the  details  of  the  style  of  which  it  is  an  ex- 
ample, and  the  composition  of  that  class  of  structures 
of  which  it  may  be  reckoned  the  principal. 

Plate  LV.  This  plate  exhibits  the  varieties  of  columns 
and  columnar  composition  which  the  ancient  architec- 
ture of  various  countries  presents,  and  is  intended  to 
elucidate  their  presumed  derivation  from  the  single 
pillar  of  the  earliest  records ; together  with  specimens 
of  ancient  modes  of  structure. 

Fig.  1 presents  an  example  of  the  single  pillar  or 
stone  of  memorial,  the  Monolithon  ; fig.  2 of  the  Bili- 
thon,  the  cromlech  of  the  Celtic  nations ; fig.  3 of  the 
Trilithon,  an  example  afforded  by  Stonehenge;  and  fig. 
4)  exhibits  the  immediately  succeeding  arrangement  of 
pillars,  with  a continuous  entablature. 

Fig.  5 shows  the  flank  of  the  portico  of  the  temple  at 
Amada  in  Nubia,  consisting  of  square  piers  or  pillars  as 
in  fig.  4,  and  a cylindrical  column,  which  is  evidently 


formed  of  a similar  pillar  by  working  off  its  angles,  the 
abacus  and  plinth  remaining  of  the  same  size  and  form 
of  which  the  pillars  are. 

Fig.  6,  pillars  with  a plain  entablature  as  in  fig.  4, 
from  the  Rhamesseion  at  Thebes.  The  statues  placed 
before  the  pillars  most  probably  gave  rise  to  the  use  of 
such  figures  to  support  an  entablature,  which  these 
have  the  appearance  of  doing  when  seen  in  front. 

Fig.  7,  an  early  Egyptian  columnar  composition,  from 
Thebes  also.  In  this,  as  in  the  example  at  Amada,  the 
square  abacus  shows  the  form  and  size  of  the  original 
pillar  out  of  which  the  singular  bulbous  column  has 
been  sculptured. 

Fig.  8,  piers  of  one  of  the  cavern  temples  of  Ellora. 
These  likewise  exhibit  the  tendency  to  the  cylindrical 
form,  and  may  be  assumed  as  an  example  of  the  style 
of  architectural  columnar  composition  at  the  time  they 
were  executed. 

Fig.  9,  ancient  Hindoo  columnar  piers,  in  the  Mokun- 
dra  Pass,  from  Colonel  Tod’s  (unpublished)  second 
volume  of  the  Annals  of  Rajasthan,  and  by  his  kind 
permission.  The  similarity  in  character  which  exists 
between  these  and  the  piers  at  Ellora  in  the  preced- 
ing example,  tends  to  strengthen  the  remark  accom- 
panying them,  and  affords  proof  of  their  contemporane- 
ousness. 

Fig.  10,  Doric  columns  and  their  architrave  from  the 


ARCHITECTURE. 


69 


Descrip.  ruins  at  Corinth,  being  the  earliest  known  example  of 
tions  of  their  style. 

Plates.  Fig.  11,  ancient  Persian  columns  from  Persepolis,  in 

front  and  in  profile,  the  latter  showing  the  mode  in 
which  they  were  probably  made  to  receive  an  entabla- 
ture, though  a distinguished  oriental  traveller  asserts 
that  the  capitals  are  wrought  on  the  backs  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  render  it  improbable  that  they  were  ever 
intended  to  have  any  thing  placed  on  them. 

Fig.  12,  columns  in  front  of  the  rock  sculptures  at 
Mundore,  in  Marwar,  from  Colonel  Tod’s  first  volume. 

Fig.  13,  from  the  ruins  of  Bheems  Chlori,  also  in  the 
Mokundra  pass,  from  Colonel  Tod’s  unpublished  volume. 
These  present  another  variety  of  Hindoo  columnar  com- 
position of  early  date,  though  later,  it  is  probable,  than 
the  example,  fig.  9,  supra.  Figs.  14  and  16  exhibit  the 
modes  of  structure  described  in  the  text  at  page  414; 
and  fig.  15  is  a view  of  the  entrance  to  the  great  pyra- 
mid at  Memphis  from  Denon  and  shows  the  mode  of 
its  structure. 

Plate  LVI.  An  example  of  the  Egyptian  style,  sufficiently 
explained  at  pp.  410,  432,  et  seq. 

Plate  LVII.  A Greek  Doric  octastyle,  peripteral,  and  hy- 
paethral temple,  with  the  details  of  the  Parthenon.  The 
plan  (fig.  3)  is  that  of  the  Parthenon  {vide  Plate  LIV.) 
slightly  modified,  the  better  to  include  the  class  to 
which  it  belongs.  In  the  Parthenon  the  opisthodomus 
has  six  columns,  as  in  the  pronaos,  and  not  four  in  antis 
as  here  laid  down : this,  however,  exhibits  the  ordinary 
mode  of  arrangement.  The  internal  columns  are  ar- 
ranged in  this  plan  as  they  are  generally  found  in  other 
similar  structures ; and  the  pedestal  for  the  statue  of 
the  divinity  is  placed  in  its  most  probable  position. 

Fig.  1 shows  part  of  the  flank  of  the  temple  and  the 
internal  composition  of  the  hypaethral  cella  with  its 
upper  range  of  columns  or  attic,  of  the  inner  chamber 
or  treasury,  and  of  the  opisthodomus  and  posticum : 

, much  of  this,  however,  is  necessarily  taken  at  a venture, 

because  of  the  imperfection  of  the  remains  of  the  Gre- 
cian edifices. 

Fig.  2 exhibits  an  elevation  of  the  opisthodomus  be- 
hind the  outer  range  of  the  portico,  not  according  to 
the  Parthenon,  but  in  antis. 

Fig.  3 is  the  plan.  In  front,  on  the  left-hand  side,  is 
the  entrance  porticus ; behind  this  is  the  pronaos ; 
within  the  pronaos  is  the  hypaethral  naos  or  cella,  the 
middle  space  between  the  columns  being  open ; the 
spaces  between  the  columns  and  the  walls  on  either  side 
are  covered  ; doors  (these  are  not  generally  laid  down 
to  the  Parthenon,  but  are  assumed  as  probable)  lead  to 
the  inner  chamber,  said  to  be  the  treasury, — this  is  by 
some  called  the  opisthodomus,  into  which  it  opens,  and 
the  opisthodomus  stands  in  the  same  relation  to  the 
posticum  that  the  pronaos  does  to  the  porticus. 

Fig.  4 is  the  external  order  of  the  Parthenon ; fig.  5 
the  profile  of  its  corona  to  a larger  scale,  to  show  its  de- 
tail ; fig.  6 a half-capital  of  the  same,  enlarged  also, 
with  its  annulets  larger  still. 

Fig.  9 is  the  order  of  the  pronaos  ; fig.  8 the  profile  of 
its  corona  enlarged ; fig.  7 its  capital  enlarged,  with 
the  annulets  still  larger. 

Fig.  10  the  antae  cap  enlarged ; and  fig.  12  a half-plan 
of  a column  of  the  Parthenon,  showing  the  contour  of 
its  flutes.  ( Vide  page  437  et  seq.) 

Plate  LVIII.  A Greek  Doric  hexastyle,  peripteral,  and 
cleithral  temple,  with  the  details  of  the  temple  of  The- 
seus at  Athens. 

F’ig.  1,  front  elevation  of  the  temple. 

Fig.  2,  section  behind  the  outer  range  of  the  portico, 
showing  the  elevation  of  the  pronaos. 


F’ig.  3,  plan  of  the  temple.  The  arrangement  of  the  Descrip- 
porticus  here  (to  the  left)  is  pseudo-dipteral;  a space  equal  tions 
to  two  intercolumniations  and  the  intervening  column  *^es. 
being  left  between  the  external  range  and  the  fi'ont  of  ~0r~'T^ 
the  pronaos, — the  projection  of  the  posticum  is  irregular. 

Fig.  4,  the  external  order  of  the  temple  of  Theseus, 
with  a half-plan  of  the  column  ; fig.  5,  the  profile  of  the 
corona  enlarged  ; fig.  6,  half  the  capital  enlarged  ; fig. 

7,  half  the  capital  of  the  order  of  the  pronaos  enlarged 
also ; fig.  9,  the  antae,  with  profiles  of  the  outer  and  inner 
entablatures  of  the  pronaos, — this  shows  also  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  ceilings. 

Fig.  10,  enlarged  profile  of  the  antae  cap. 

Fig.  11,  inverted  plan  of  part  of  the  ceilings  of  the 
porticus  and  pronaos,  showing  the  arrangement  of  the 
coffers,  lacunae,  or  cassoons. 

Fig.  12,  inverted  plan  of  the  planceer  of  the  cornice, 
showing  the  form  and  arrangement  of  the  mutules  of 
the  external  entablature. 

Fig.  13  is  a plan  of  the  triglyphs  of  the  same  on  an 
external  angle. 

Figs.  8 and  14  are  enlarged  plans  of  the  flutings  of 
the  columns,  to  show  their  contours.  ( Vide  p.  437  et  seq.) 

Plate  LIX.  A Greek  Ionic  hexa-prostyle  apteral  temple, 
with  details  of  the  temple  of  Erechtheus  at  Athens. 

Fig.  1,  elevation  of  the  portico. 

Fig.  2,  rear  elevation  of  the  temple,  showing  an  at- 
tached tetrastyle  in  antis,  with  windows  as  they  exist 
in  that  of  the  temple  of  Erechtheus. 

Fig.  3,  flank  elevation.  The  dotted  projection  to  the 
right,  of  the  posticum,  indicates  the  amphiprostylar  ar- 
rangement, which  is  shown  on  the  plan  fig.  4 also,  and 
in  the  same  manner. 

Fig.  5,  the  order  of  the  temple  of  Erechtheus,  except 
the  two  lowest  steps  of  the  stylobate,  which  may  be 
easily  supplied,  to  a larger  scale,  with  indications  of  the 
carved  mouldings,  &c. 

Figs.  6,  7,  and  8 are  enlarged  profiles  of  those  parts 
of  the  entablature  which  are  immediately  behind  and 
above  them. 

Fig.  10,  the  antae  of  the  same  example,  showing  the 
ornament  which  enriches  its  necking,  and  runs  along  the 
flank  of  the  edifice  ; fig.  11,  profile  of  the  antae  cap  en- 
larged. 

Fig.  12,  flank  elevation  of  tne  capital ; all  the  vertical 
beads  in  this  are  carved.  Fig.  13.  transverse  section  of 
the  capital. 

Fig.  14,  half  the  longitudinal  section  of  the  capital. 

Fig.  15,  an  inverted  plan  of  the  capital,  showing  the 
arrangement  of  the  flutings. 

Fig.  16,  an  inverted  plan  of  one  of  the  angular  capi- 
tals. ( Vide  p.  439  et  seq.) 

Fig.  9,  the  Ionic  volute,  enlarged  to  show  the  mode 
of  striking  it,  and  the  contour  of  its  face. 

The  point  at  which  the  volute  shall  commence,  its 
height,  and  the  diameter  of  its  eye,  must  be  given  or 
assumed ; then,  “ from  either  end  of  the  whole  height 
of  the  spiral,  cut  off  the  diameter  of  the  given  circle 
( o — o) ; divide  the  remainder  into  as  many  equal 
parts  as  there  are  to  be  revolutions  in  the  spiral  (this 
example  is  of  three  revolutions),  and  divide  each  of 
those  parts  again  into  four  others,  so  that  the  remain- 
der or  difference  between  the  given  circle  and  the 
height  will  be  divided  into  four  times  the  number  of 
revolutions  (making  in  this  case  twelve)  ; then  take  half 
the  number  of  these  parts  and  one  part  more  (seven),  to- 
gether with  half  the  diameter  of  the  eye  (o  — o),  and 
set  it  from  the  top  of  the  perpendicular  downwards,  it 
will  give  the  centre  of  the  volute ; take  half  of  one  of 
the  parts,  and  set  it  from  the  centre,  cutting  the  per- 


70 


ARC  H ITEC  T U R E. 


Descrip, 
tions  of 
Plates. 


pendicular  or  height  of  the  volute  upwards ; through 
that  point  draw  a horizontal  line ; take  half  of  one  of 
the  parts,  and  set  it  on  each  side  of  the  perpendicular, 
on  the  horizontal  line ; from  these  two  points  draw 
diagonals  to  the  centre  (refer  to  the  larger  diagram  to 
the  right  of  the  volute)  ; through  the  centre  draw 
another  line  parallel  to  the  horizontal  line;  through  the 
upper  end  of  each  diagonal  draw  lines  parallel  to  the 
perpendicular,  cutting  the  horizontal  line  that  passes 
through  the  centre  into  two  equal  parts ; divide  each 
of  those  parts  into  as  many  equal  parts  as  you  intend 
to  have  revolutions  (three).  If  the  volute  is  intended 
to  be  on  the  left  hand  (as  this  is),  divide  the  part  next 
to  the  centre  on  that  side  into  two  equal  parts,  but  for 
the  right  hand  volute  on  the  contrary;  from  the  point 
of  bisection  draw  two  lines  parallel  to  the  diagonals 
downwards ; then  through  each  of  the  divisions  on  the 
line  which  passes  through  the  centre  draw  lines  parallel 
to  the  perpendicular,  cutting  the  diagonals  at  both  ends 
of  these  perpendicular  lines;  then  join  the  opposite 
points  of  each  diagonal  by  horizontal  lines,  and  the 
centres  will  be  completed  upon  each  angle  o.f  the  fret. 
Begin  at  the  right  hand  on  the  upper  centre,  extend 
the  compass  to  the  height  of  the  perpendicular,  and 
describe  the  quadrant  of  a circle  to  the  left  hand ; then 
set  the  compass  on  the  next  centre  on  the  left  hand, 
and  extend  the  other  leg  of  the  compass  to  the  end  of 
the  quadrant,  where  you  left  off  in  the  last  quadrant ; 
go  the  same  way  round  to  the  next  centre,  and  proceed 
in  this  manner  till  you  arrive  at  the  last  quadrant, 
which  ought  to  touch  the  given  circle  on  the  upper 
side  upon  the  perpendicular.  Lastly,  with  one  leg  of 
the  compasses  on  the  centre  of  the  spiral,  and  the  other 
foot  extended  to  the  distance  that  the  last  quadrant 
cuts  the  perpendicular,  describe  a circle,  and  the  spiral 
will  be  completed.”  (Nicholson’s  Principles,  &c.  vol.  ii. 
p.  23.)  To  complete  the  volute  as  in  fig.  5,  this  pro- 
cess should  be  repeated  for  every  line  indicated  at  the 
point  of  springing  in  fig.  S,  the  height  of  course  altering 
to  every  one  but  the  eye  of  the  volute,  and  the  point 
of  springing  remaining  the  same. 

Plate  LX.  Fig.  1 the  elevation,  fig.  2 the  plan,  and  fig.  3 
the  details,  of  the  order  of  the  Choragic  Monument  of 
Lysicrates  at  Athens.  ( Vide  p.  440.) 

Fig.  4 presents  the  elevation,  and  fig.  5 the  plan,  of 
the  Caryatic  prostyle,  which  is  attached  to  the  flanks 
of  the  temple  of  Erechtheus  at  Athens. 

Fig.  6 shows  the  detail  of  the  hands  and  feet  of  the 
figure,  and  of  the  entablature  and  stereobate  of  the 
same.  ( Vide  p.  441.) 

Plate  LXI.  contains  Greek  and  Roman  mouldings,  with 
their  usual  enrichments,  all  drawn  from  ancient  ex- 
amples, and  detached  profiles  of  them  all,  together 
with  two  examples  of  Greek  and  one  of  Roman  orna- 
ment. The  specimen  of  Greek  ornament  on  the  left 
hand  of  the  centre  is  from  the  neck  of  the  ante-cap 
of  the  tetrastyle  portico  on  the  flank  of  the  temple  of 
Erechtheus,  generally  known  as  that  of  Minerva  Polias ; 
and  the  other  half  of  the  same  is  the  enrichment  of  the 
neck  of  the  antae  of  the  temple  of  Erechtheus  itself, 
as  shown  in  Plate  LIX.  figs.  3 and  10.  The  Roman 
specimen  of  ornament  is  that  of  the  frieze  of  the  temple 
of  Antoninus  and  Faustina  in  Rome.  ( Vide  Plate  LXII. 
Ex.  3,  and  p.  441  and  451.) 

Plate  LXII.  Four  Roman  examples  of  the  Corinthian 
order.  Ex.  1 is  that  of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Stator  in 
Rome ; Ex.  2 is  that  of  the  temple  of  Vesta  at  Tivoli 
( vide  Plate  LXIV.  fig.  9) ; Ex.  3 is  that  of  the  temple  of 
Antoninus  and  Faustina  in  Rome  ( vide  Plate  LXIV. 
figs.  6,  7,  and  8)  ; and  Ex.  4 is  the  example  of  the  porti- 


co of  the  Pantheon  in  Rome  (vide  Plate  LXIV.  figs.  2,  Descrip- 
3,  4,  and  5).  To  every  example  fig.  1 shows  the  de-  Rons  of 
tails  enlarged,  the  shafts  being  cut  away ; and  fig.  2 ITtes. 
the  elevation  of  the  column  and  entablature.  In  every 
case,  also,  the  distance  from  the  inner  surface  of  the 
column  fig.  2 to  the  vertical  line  dividing  the  examples 
is  one  half  the  intercolumniation  at  which  that  example 
is  composed.  ( Vide  p.  447  et  seq.) 

Plate  LXIII.  Examples  of  the  Roman  orders.  Ex.  1 
is  the  Corinthian  of  the  temple  of  Mars  Ultor;  Ex.  2 
the  Composite  of  the  arch  of  Titus  ( vide  Plate  LXIV. 
fig.  11)  ; Ex.  3 the  Ionic  of  the  temple  of  Fortuna  Viri- 
lis  ( vide  Plate  LXIV.  fig.  12)  ; and  Ex.  4 the  Doric  of  the 
Theatre  of  Marcellus,  completed  from  that  of  the  Co- 
losseum. All  of  these  are  in  Rome.  Figs.  1,  as  in 
Plate  LXII.,  show  the  entablatures,  capitals,  and  bases, 

&c.  at  an  enlarged  scale ; and  figs.  2 the  complete  ele- 
vation of  each  order,  except  their  stylobates,  some  of 
which  are  not  ascertained,  and  those  which  are  may 
be  obtained  from  the  structures  they  are  referred  to  in 
Plate  LXIV.  ( Vide  p.  447  et  seq.) 

Plate  LXIV.  Elevations,  plans,  and  sections  of  sundry  Ro- 
man edifices,  all  drawn  to  the  same  scale. 

Fig.  1 is  a longitudinal  elevation  of  the  Colosseum. 

( Vide  p.  443.) 

Fig.  2 is  the  front  elevation,  fig.  3 the  flank  eleva- 
tion, fig.  4 a section,  and  fig.  5 the  plan,  of  the  Pan- 
theon. The  dotted  lines  before  the  recess  opposite  the 
entrance,  fig.  5,  show  the  places  the  outstanding  co- 
lumns originally  occupied.  ( Vide  p.  443  and  444.) 

Fig.  6 is  the  front  elevation,  fig.  7 the  plan,  and  fig. 

8 the  flank  elevation,  of  the  temple  of  Antoninus  and 
Faustina : of  this  the  front  steps  and  stylobate  are  re- 
storations. ( Vide  p.  443,  and  PI.  LXII.  Ex.  3.) 

Fig.  9 is  the  plan  and  elevation  of  the  temple  of 
Vesta  at  Tivoli ; of  this  the  antefixae  and  roof  are  resto- 
rations. ( Vide  PI.  LXII.  Ex.  2.) 

Fig.  10  is  the  plan  and  elevation  of  the  triumphal 
arch  of  Septimius  Severus.  ( Vide  p.  443.) 

Fig.  11  is  a plan  and  elevation  of  the  arch  of  Titus. 

( Vide  ut  sup.  and  PI.  LXIII.  Ex.  2.) 

Fig.  12  is  a plan  and  elevation  of  the  temple  of  For- 
tuna Virilis.  ( Vide  p.  443,  and  PI.  LXIII.  Ex.  3.) 

Plate  LXV.  Plans,  sections,  elevations,  &c.  of  Roman 
mansions  from  Pompeii. 

Fig.  1 is  a plan  of  one  of  the  most  extensive  and  most 
regular  of  the  domestic  structures  of  Pompeii,  with  its 
immediate  vicinage ; it  is  known  as  the  house  of  Pansa. 

The  following  nomenclature  is  generally  that  of  Sir 
William  Gell: — 1,  The  entrance  or  recessed  porch;  2, 
the  vestibule ; 3,  the  cavaedium  or  atrium ; 4,  the  com- 
pluvium  or  well  for  receiving  the  rain  from  the  roof 
covering  this  part  of  the  house  (vide  fig.  2)  ; 5,  penaria, 
or  perhaps  cubicula ; 6,  alae  or  wings ; 7,  tablinum 
or  parlour ; 8,  pinacotheca,  or  perhaps  the  library ; 9, 
a passage  from  the  first  to  the  second  atrium  without 
passing  through  the  tablinum ; 10,  cubiculum  or  bed- 
chamber; 11,  peristylium  or  oicus — the  house  ; 12,  im- 
pluvium  (vide  sup.  in  4,  et  fig.  2) ; 13,  exhedrae  or  alae — in 
these  the  siesta  was  taken — they  were  also  used  for  con- 
versation; 14,  cellae  familiaricae  ; 15,  triclinium — here 
couches  and  seats  were  placed,  and  company  received ; 

16,  lararium  or  receptacle  for  the  family  gods ; 17,  cu- 
biculum ; 18,  hall  to  the  gynaeceum  or  women’s  apart- 
ment ; 19,  the  gynaeceum — this  is  believed  by  some 
to  be  a distinct  house,  and  not  a part  of  that  of  Pansa ; 

20,  porticus  or  pergula;  21,  hortus  or  garden;  22,  a 
passage  from  the  oicus  to  the  pergula  and  garden,  to 
avoid  the  necessity  of  passing  through  the  triclinium ; 

23,  kitchen ; 24,  store-room  or  larder ; 25,  an  open  court, 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Descrip- 
tions of 
Plates. 


communicating  with  the  street  by  a doorway.  This 
comprehends  the  whole  of  the  apartments,  &c.  appro- 
priated to  domestic  use — the  residence ; the  other  por- 
tions of  the  edifice  are  distinct  from  it.  26  is  another 
smaller  house ; 27,  a passage  leading  to  the  house  of 
Pansa  from  the  street  on  the  right-hand  side ; all  the 
places  marked  28  are  shops  open  to  the  street,  as  shown 
in  the  elevation,  fig.  3 ; the  rooms  marked  29  are  store- 
rooms to  the  shops  into  which  they  open ; 30  is  a bake- 
house, in  which  the  mills,  &c.  are  indicated  as  they 
exist;  31  is  the  oven;  in  the  angle  of  the  two  adjoin- 
ing streets  on  the  left  hand  (32)  is  the  shop  of  a seller 
of  wine  and  hot  drinks ; 33  is  a fountain.  The  walls  in- 
dicated on  the  other  sides  of  the  streets  surrounding 
the  house,  &c.  of  Pansa  are  the  fronts  of  shops  and  of 
some  private  houses,  &c. 

Fig.  2 is  a section  through  the  house  of  Pansa  from 
the  street  to  the  garden,  showing  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  probable  the  roofs,  &c.  were  arranged. 

Fig.  3 is  the  probable  elevation  of  the  entrance  front 
of  this  mansion,  though  the  sketch  (fig.  4)  of  part  of 
the  same  in  its  present  state  shows  how  slight  the  evi- 
dence for  it  is. 

Fig.  5 is  an  outline  of  the  side  of  a room,  with  the 
ornaments,  &c.  with  which  it  is  decorated.  This  is  an 
average  specimen  ; many  were  much  plainer,  and  some 
were  more  enriched. 

Fig.  6 is  the  plan  of  an  ordinary  sized  house  in  one 
of  the  private  streets  of  Pompeii : the  uses  of  the  va- 
rious parts  may  be  generally  gathered  from  those  of 
the  similar  portions  of  the  house  of  Pansa.  The  word 
Salve,  printed  across  the  threshold,  is  there  wrought 
in  mosaic. 

Fig.  7 presents  the  presumed  arrangement  of  the 
roofs,  &c.  of  this  house  in  section. 

Fig.  8 is  the  elevation  of  it  towards  the  street.  This 
absolutely  cannot  have  been  better  than  it  appears 
here,  and  must  have  been  the  ordinary  average  appear- 
ance of  the  street  fronts  of  Pompeian  houses.  ( Vide 
p.  445  et  seq .) 

Plate  LXVI.  Fig.  1,  an  example  to  show  how  the  term 
order  is  applied,  and  to  what  parts  of  it  the  various 
technical  terms  are  applied,  or  are  intended  to  indicate. 

Figs.  2,  3,  4,  5,  and  6,  are  the  orders  of  the  Italo- 
Vitruvian  school  as  arranged  by  Palladio ; fig.  2,  the 
Tuscan;  fig.  3,  the  Doric;  fig.  4,  the  Ionic;  fig.  5,  the 
Corinthian  ; and  fig.  6,  the  Composite.  ( Vide  p.  451.) 

Plate  LXVII.  Varieties  of  Italian  composition  from  exist- 
ing structures  in  Italy  and  elsewhere,  in  the  Italian  style. 

Figs.  1,  2,  3,  4,  and  5,  are  windows  of  various  form 
and  arrangement. 

Figs.  6,  7,  8,  and  9,  are  doors  of  various  composition, 
with  plans  to  show  their  arrangement  and  ichnographic 
projections,  &c. 

Figs.  10,  11,  12,  and  13,  are  arches  and  arcades,  rus- 
ticated and  with  columns,  &c.  The  plans  show  their 
forms  and  ichnographic  projections.  ( Vide  p.  452  etseq .) 

Plate  LXVIII.  Front  elevations  alone  of  the  fronts  of  St 
Paul’s  in  London  and  St  Peter’s  in  Rome.  These  two 
structures  exhibit  many  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  eccle- 
siastical architecture  of  the  Italian  school.  In  this 
plate  their  comparative  magnitude  has  not  been  attend- 
ed to ; they  are  drawn  to  different  scales  to  bring  them 
more  nearly  of  the  same  size,  so  as  to  render  the  con- 
trast more  effective.  ( Vide  p.  426  and  429.) 

Plate  LXIX.  Flank  elevations  of  St  Peter’s  and  St  Paul’s, 
drawn  to  the  same  scale,  to  show  their  comparative  mag- 
nitude, and  to  enable  the  reader  to  judge  of  their  respec- 
tive merits,  as  well  as  to  elucidate  observations  which 
will  be  found  in  the  text  passim.  ( Vide  p.  429,  &c.) 


Plate  LXX.  Elevations  of  three  esteemed  Italian  mansions.  Descrip- 
The  merit  of  this  (the  principal)  elevation  of  the  Farnese  tions  of 
Palace  is  divided  between  Antonio  Sangallo  and  M.  A.  v Plates. 
Buonaroti.  The  villa  Giulia,  near  Rome,  is  esteemed 
one  of  the  best  works  of  Giacomo  Barozzi  da  Vignola; 
and  the  villa  Capra  near  Vicenza,  by  Palladio,  is,  by  the 
admirers  of  his  style,  considered  the  most  perfect  of  his 
works.  ( Vide  p.  426,  429,  452,  453,  &c.) 

Plate  LXXI.  A series  of  arches  in  the  Gothic  and  Pointed 
styles,  from  various  structures  in  England.  It  exhibits 
the  advance  of  the  circular  arch  from  the  plainness  ex- 
hibited in  figs.  1 and  2,  to  the  richer  and  more  complicate 
arrangements  of  those  examples  which  follow,  until  the 
ingrafting  and  gradual  advance  of  the  pointed  arch. 

This  first  appears  in  fig.  10.  Fig.  12  shows  the  substi- 
tution of  the  latter  for  the  circular  of  fig.  9 in  a similar 
composition.  Fig.  13  exhibits  the  pointed  arch  on 
Gothic  pillars  or  columns;  and  fig.  14  the  perfected 
pointed  arch  with  the  clustered  shafts  which  become 
identified  with  the  Pointed  style.  ( Vide  p.  453  et  seq.) 

Plate  LXXII.  the  elevation  of  the  south  transept  of 
Beverley  Minster.  This  affords  a perfect  and  beautiful 
example  of  external  composition  of  the  first  period  of 
Pointed  architecture.  The  presence  of  the  circular 
arch  embracing  the  pointed  arches  of  the  doorway, 
and  composing  with  others,  shows  how  gradual  the  ad- 
vance of  the  new  style  was ; the  upper  part  of  the 
front  showing  also  how  completely  it  was  already  sys- 
tematized when  the  circular  arch  was  not  yet  quite  dis- 
carded. The  plan  of  this  front  shows  the  various  ich- 
nographic projections,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  clus- 
tered shafts  of  the  doors  and  windows.  Fig.  2 is  a 
niche  in  front  of,  and  fig.  3 a pinnacle  to,  one  of  the 
buttresses  of  the  nave  of  the  same  edifice  : these  are  of 
the  second  period.  Figs.  4,  5,  6,  7,  and  8,  are  windows 
from  various  edifices,  showing  the  gradual  advance  from 
the  plain  lancet  arch  of  the  Beverley  Minster  transept 
to  the  arch  the  most  elaborately  enriched  with  tracery. 

Fig.  4 is  but  a modification  of  the  composition  of  the 
doorways  of  fig.  1,  as  that  is  of  figs.  9 and  12,  Plate 
LXXI.;  and  the  advance  from  that  may  be  almost 
termed  natural. 

Plate  LXXIII.  Fig.  1 is  a sectional  compartment  of  the 
nave  of  Lincoln  Cathedral ; it  exhibits  the  mode  of  in- 
ternal composition  peculiar  to  the  style  of  the  first 
period;  tending,  however,  to  the  transition,  it  will  be 
observed,  in  many  particulars,  and  as  a comparison  of  it 
with  the  adjacent  example,  of  the  next  period,  will  more 
clearly  show. 

Fig.  2 is  a similar  sectional  compartment  of  the  choir  of 
Lincoln  Cathedral,  exemplifying  the  internal  composition 
of  the  second  period  of  the  Pointed  style;  the  plans  of  the 
shafts  to  both  examples  show  their  forms  and  arrange- 
ment. The  subjects  of  the  three  last  plates  are  drawn 
entirely,  by  his  kind  permission,  from  Mr  Britton's 
Chronological  History  of  Ecclesiastical  Architecture. 

Plate  LXXIV.,  the  front  of  York  Minster,  exemplifies  the 
external  composition  of  the  second  period,  as  that  of 
Beverley  Minster  transept  (Plate  LXXII.  fig.  1)  does 
that  of  the  first  period;  and  the  difference  will  be  ren- 
dered very  clear  by  comparing  them.  The  upper  part 
of  the  towers  of  the  front  of  York  Minster,  however,  it 
must  be  remembered  ( vide  p.  456),  are  of  the  third 
period,  and  so  is  the  central  tower  which  appears  in  the 
distance  between  them. 

The  front  of  Pisa  Cathedral  is  here  introduced  in 
contrast  with  that  of  York  Minster,  to  show  the  striking 
difference  which  exists  between  the  real  Gothic  archi- 
tecture of  Italy  and  the  Pointed  style  which  supersed- 
ed it  so  completely,  in  this  country  particularly,  and  to 


72 


ARCHITECTURE. 


Descrip-  elucidate  our  observations  to  that  effect  at  page  16 
tions  of  et  seq „ The  cupola  which  appears  behind  and  in  the 

Plates.  distance  is  surrounded  at  the  base  by  pointed  arches  and 

pinnacles,  all  of  which  are  evidently  of  much  later  date 
than  the  Gothic  front. 

Plate  LXXV.  Fig.  1 is  an  elevation  of  Westminster  Hall. 
It  exemplifies  the  style  of  external  composition  of  the 
third  period.  It  was  selected  because  of  the  variety  of 
matter  it  contains  elucidatory  of  the  period  to  which  it 
belongs  particularly,  and  of  the  Pointed  style  generally. 
The  door,  windows,  and  canopied  tabernacles  on  the 
second  story  of  the  towers  are  peculiar ; the  lower  ta- 
bernacles are  more  general,  and  the  pinnacles,  crockets, 
corbels,  tablets,  &c.  may  also  be  taken  in  exemplifica- 
tion of  such  things  in  the  style  generally. 

Fig.  2 is  a plan  of  the  front,  showing  the  ribs  of  the 
groined  entrance,  the  ichnographic  projections  of  the 
tabernacles,  &c. 

Fig.  3 is  one  of  the  flying  buttresses  of  the  flank  of 
the  edifice. 


Fig.  4 is  a spandrel  of  the  entrance  porch  enlarged.  Descrip- 

Fig.  5,  crockets  of  the  gable  running  from  the  towers  tions 
to  the  crowning  turret,  enlarged.  Plates. 

Fig.  6,  part  of  the  head  of  one  of  the  upper  windows 
of  the  towers,  enlarged. 

Fig.  7,  a foliated  heraldic  panel  from  under  the  pe- 
destals of  the  lower  tabernacles  or  niches  of  the  front, 
enlarged. 

Fig.  8,  canopies  and  pinnacles,  &c.  of  the  lower  taber- 
nacles, enlarged ; the  buttresses  on  which  they  rest  are 
also  shown  at  large  in  intercepted  lengths. 

Fig.  9,  an  enriched  foliate  pendent  of  the  foregoing 
example,  marked  a,  at  a still  larger  scale. 

Fig.  10,  one  of  the  pedestals  for  the  reception  of 
statues  within  the  niches  or  tabernacles,  enlarged. 

Fig.  11,  part  of  one  of  the  canopies,  &c.  of  the  tower 
tabernacles,  enlarged. 

Fig.  12,  one  of  the  foliate  pendents,  marked  b,  of  the 
foregoing ; and  fig.  13  the  corbel,  marked  c,  of  the  same, 
at  a still  larger  scale. 


Building.  The  art  of  building  comprises  the  practice  of  civil  ar- 
chitecture,  or  the  mechanical  operations  necessary  to 
carry  the  designs  of  the  architect  into  effect.  It  is  not 
unfrequently  called  practical  architecture  ; but  the  adop- 
tion of  this  term  would  have  tended  only  to  confuse,  by 
rendering  it  difficult  to  make  the  distinction  generally  un- 
derstood between  architecture  as  a fine  or  liberal  art,  and 
architecture  as  a mechanical  art.  The  execution  of  works 
of  architecture  necessarily  includes  building;  but  building 
is  frequently  employed  when  the  result  is  not  architec- 
ture : a man  may  be  a competent  builder  without  being 
an  architect ; but  no  one  can  profess  himself  a complete 
architect  unless  he  be  competent  to  specify  and  direct 
all  the  operations  of  building.  A scientific  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  masonry,  carpentry,  joinery,  &c.  and  of 
the  qualities,  strength,  and  resistance  of  materials,  though 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  an  architect,  is  not  sufficient 
of  itself,  without  a minute  acquaintance  with  a great  variety 
of  less  ambitious  details.  Such  are  those  which  relate  to 
the  arrangement  of  a plan  for  the  greatest  possible  degree 
of  convenience  on  the  smallest  space,  and  at  the  least  ex- 
pense ; its  transference  to  the  ground ; the  preparation 
and  formation  of  foundations  ; the  arrangement  and  con- 
struction of  drains,  sewers,  and  cess-pools  ; the  varieties 
of  walling  with  stone,  and  of  bonding  bricks  in  brick-work ; 
the  merit  of  the  various  modes  of  bonding  and  tying  walls 
with  timber  and  otherwise ; the  arrangement  of  gutters 
on  roofs,  to  get  sufficient  fall,  and  to  lead  the  water  to  the 
least  inconvenient  places  for  placing  trunks  to  carry  it 
down  ; the  arrangement  and  formation  of  flues  ; the  pro- 
tection of  walls  from  damps,  of  timbers  from  moisture  and 


stagnant  air,  and  of  metals  generally  from  exciting  causes  ; Building, 
the  cost  of  materials  and  labour,  and  the  quantity  of  each 
required  to  produce  certain  effects.  Together  with  these, 
it  is  important  to  be  practically  acquainted  with  all  the 
modes  of  operation  in  all  the  trades  or  arts  required  in 
building.  Every  thing  must  be  clearly  understood,  or  it 
will  be  impossible  properly  to  specify  beforehand,  in  de- 
tail, every  thing  and  every  operation  to  be  done  and  per- 
formed ; and  minutely  to  estimate,  beforehand  also,  the 
absolute  cost  involved  in  the  execution  of  a proposed 
structure.  The  power  to  do  the  latter  necessarily  involves 
that  of  measuring  work,  and  ascertaining  quantities  after  it 
is  done.  These  things  may  certainly  be  referred  to  the 
surveyor  or  measurer,  but  they  are  not  the  less  incumbent 
on  the  architect,  who  cannot  be  said  to  be  thoroughly  mas- 
ter of  building,  or  the  practice  of  his  profession,  unless  he 
be  skilled  in  these  operations. 

The  architect  having  furnished  the  specification  and 
working  drawings  of  his  design,  the  first  operation  is  the  pre- 
paration of  the  foundation.  (See  article  Stone-Masonry, 
sect.  60.)  Much  in  this  particular,  it  is  evident,  must  de- 
pend on  localities.  It  is  not  of  so  much  importance  that  the 
ground  be  hard,  or  even  rocky,  as  that  it  be  compact,  and 
of  similar  consistence  throughout ; that  it  be  so  constituted 
as  to  resist  entirely  and  throughout,  or  yield  equally  to  the 
superincumbent  weight.  In  the  latter  case,  however,  there 
must  be  some  contrivance  to  generalize  the  pressure,  or 
the  piers  would  sink  away  from  the  parts  above  and  below 
the  apertures.  This  danger  is  obviated,  if  the  soil  be  to- 
lerably consistent,  by  turning  inverted  arches,  as  we  shall 
show  in  its  place  ; or,  the  soil  being  too  soft  to  offer  resist- 


74 


BUILDING. 


Building,  ance  in  the  space  occupied  by  a brick,  by  planking  with 
timber  or  cast-iron  frames,  by  laying  one  or  more  courses 
of  strong  thick  paving  stones,  as  wide  at  least  as  the  whole 
extent  of  the  footings  of  the  walls,  and  each  stone  as  large 
as  may  be ; or,  what  in  most  cases  is  by  far  the  best,  by 
laying  a compact  mass  of  concreted  rubble,  sand,  and  quick- 
lime, which  will  harden  into  a solid  unbroken  bed. 

No  foundation  is  more  ineligible  for  a heavy  structure 
than  one  that  is  rocky,  especially  if  the  rocks  are  in  small 
masses,  or,  if  a sufficient  surface  is  offered  of  one  mass, 
in  strata  which  dip  considerably  : in  the  former  case,  from 
the  rottenness  of  the  soil  in  which  rocks  are  generally 
bedded,  and  which  consists  for  the  most  part  of  their 
detritus;  and  in  the  latter,  from  the  liability  of  stratified 
rock  to  crack  and  slip,  against  which  no  precaution  is 
available.  Dry  gravelly  soils,  again,  are  not  only  loose  and 
infirm,  but  are  exceedingly  liable  to  vacuities  of  various 
extent,  which  are  hardly  sufficiently  provided  against  by 
piling : wet  gravel  is  generally  more  compact,  and  may 
be  better  trusted  both  with  and  without  piles,  or  with  the 
concretion  before  mentioned.  A deep  compacted  sand 
will  be  found  firm  if  a sufficient  surface  of  it  be  embraced 
by  the  footings,  which  should  be  wider  in  that  than  most 
other  cases.  In  large  and  deep  beds  of  alluvial  deposits 
the  heaviest  building  may  be  laid  with  security,  if  the  pre- 
caution before  suggested  be  attended  to  for  the  equal  dis- 
tribution of  the  pressure  throughout.  The  city  of  New 
Orleans,  in  a delta  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  rests 
on  a bed  of  mud,  which  is  held  together  by  a bonding  of 
trunks  and  arms  of  trees,  but  on  a broad  level  bed  below. 
Here  the  only  precaution  taken  in  erecting  a structure  of 
the  greatest  magnitude  is  to  make  the  trenches  for  the 
walls  wide  and  level,  and  to  floor  the  whole  of  their  sur- 
face with  thick  planks  properly  bonded ; on  these  the  foot- 
ings are  laid,  and  if  any  settlement  occurs,  it  is  of  the  whole 
edifice,  and  no  injury  accrues  to  any  part  of  it  at  any  time. 
Clayey  and  chalky  soils  are  generally  understood  to  form 
the  best  natural  foundations : in  these,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  no  preparation  is  required,  though  for  very 
heavy  and  unequally  pressing  works,  such  as  bridges,  which 
are  placed  on  piers  made  as  small  as  they  possibly  can  be, 
piling  has  been  considered  a necessary  precaution.  In- 
deed, except  perhaps  on  an  extensive  horizontal  bed  of  firm 
compact  rock,  no  foundation  can  be  considered  better  than 
that  afforded  by  piling  in  a deep  clay.  (For  the  process 
of  Piling,  see  the  article  under  that  head.) 

In  the  ordinary  processes  of  building,  however,  the  arti- 
ficial preparation  of  foundations  hardly  need  be  consider- 
ed. Common  prudence  would  refer  it  to  professional  ma- 
nagement, when  such  is  found  necessary ; and  a work  of 
this  kind  cannot  contain  sufficient  information  and  instruc- 
tion to  qualify  a man  to  act  professionally  on  any  subject, 
and  more  particularly  on  those  subjects  which  demand  ini- 
tiatory practice  and  experience.  We  therefore  proceed 
to  the  ordinary  routine  of  practice. 

The  artificers  whose  trades  come  within  the  immediate 
range  of  the  builder’s  business  are  the  following : Digger 
or  excavator,  bricklayer,  mason,  slater,  sawyer,  carpenter, 
joiner,  plasterer,  modeller,  carver  and  gilder,  plumber, 
smith,  glazier,  painter  and  decorator.  Paving  is  done  by 
the  bricklayer  or  mason,  as  it  may  be  of  brick  or  stone, 
and  tiling  by  the  bricklayer. 

Digger  or  Excavator. — The  digger  works  with  a pick- 
axe and  a spade  or  shovel.  With  the  pick-axe  he  breaks 
down  the  soil  if  it  be  hard  or  very  stiff,  and  throws  it  out 
with  the  shovel ; but  compacted  sand  and  alluvial  soil  is 
spitted  and  thrown  out  with  the  spade  alone,  without  pre- 
vious breaking  down.  In  the  former  case,  the  digger  works 
onward,  or  with  his  work  before  him,  and  in  the  latter  back- 
ward, or  standing  on  the  part  to  be  thrown  out,  as  a gar- 


dener does.  When  rock  occurs  in  a foundation,  the  assist-  Building, 
ance  of  the  quarryman  is  requisite  to  cut  through  or  blast 
it,  as  the  occasion  may  require.  The  digger  must  be  care- 
ful to  produce  a perfect  level  in  every  direction,  and  es- 
pecially in  trenches  for  walls  ; nor  may  this  be  done  by  pla- 
cing again  loose  matter,  but  the  level  must  be  produced  on 
the  solid  or  undisturbed  bed. 

Digger’s  work  is  valued  by  the  cubic  yard,  and  is  gene- 
rally made  to  include,  besides  excavating,  the  removal  of 
the  soil  and  rubbish.  The  price  per  yard  is  therefore  ne- 
cessarily contingent  on  the  stiffness  of  the  soil,  the  depth 
to  which  the  excavations  may  reach  below  the  surface,  and 
the  distance  the  stuff  is  to  be  removed ; so  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  determine  what  the  cost  may  be,  without  refe- 
rence to  each  and  all  of  these  particulars,  most  of  which 
must  be  different  in  every  different  place  ; and  all  are  again 
affected  by  the  local  cost  of  labour  or  wages.  A good  ex- 
cavator will  dig  and  throw  out,  of  common  soil,  into  a bas- 
ket or  wheel-barrow,  eight  or  ten  yards  per  diem ; but  of 
stiff  clay  or  firm  gravel,  not  more  than  six  yards.  If  the 
soil  is  to  be  carted  away  from  the  site  of  the  proposed 
building,  it  may  be  more  advantageously  basketed  out  of 
the  foundation,  and  deposited  at  once  in  the  cart,  whereby 
the  labour  of  throwing  or  shovelling  a second  time  is  avoid- 
ed ; but  if  the  soil  is  to  be  deposited  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  the  site,  or  thrown  into  a barge,  wheeling  is  the 
quicker  and  more  economical  operation.  The  quantity  of 
digger’s  work  is  ascertained  by  multiplying  the  length 
of  the  excavation  by  its  breadth,  and  their  result  by  the 
mean  depth  for  cubic  feet : these  divided  by  27  will  give 
the  amount  in  cubic  yards. 

Bricklayer. — The  manufacture  of  brick  being  made  the 
subject  of  a separate  article,  we  need  only  refer  to  that  for 
information  on  the  subject ; and  in  the  same  manner  the 
components  and  merits  of  mortars  and  cements  will  be 
found  in  sections  20  et  seqq.  of  the  article  under  the  head 
Stone-Masonry.  A few  observations  on  the  composi- 
tion of  mortar  for  bricklaying  will  nevertheless  be  neces- 
sary here. 

Particular  attention  must  be  paid  to  cleansing  the  sand 
to  be  used  for  mortar,  of  every  particle  of  clay  or  mud  that 
may  adhere  to  or  be  mixed  up  with  it.  Sea  sand  is  ob- 
jectionable for  two  reasons : it  cannot  be  perfectly  freed 
from  a saline  taint,  and  the  particles  are  moreover  gene- 
rally rounded  by  attrition,  caused  by  the  action  of  the  sea, 
which  makes  it  less  efficient  for  mortar  than  if  they  retain- 
ed their  natural  angular  forms.  Lime  should  not  be  slaked 
until  the  moment  it  is  to  be  mixed  up  with  the  sand  in  mor- 
tar, but  the  sooner  that  is  done  after  it  is  burnt  the  better. 

The  proportion  of  lime  to  sand  is  generally  taken  at  one 
third  or  one  fourth  of  the  whole  mass ; but  if  both  the  ma- 
terials be  of  good  qualit}',  that  is,  if  the  lime  slake  freely, 
and  become  a fine  pungent  impalpable  powder,  perfectly 
clear  from  argillaceous  or  any  other  foreign  matter,  and 
the  sand  clean  and  sharp,  and  of  variously  sized  particles, 
one  sixth  of  lime  to  sand  is  quite  enough;  more  is  injuri- 
ous. The  ingredients  should  be  well  mixed  and  beaten  in 
a pug-mill,  and  as  little  water  used  as  will  suffice  to  make 
the  compound  consistent  and  paste  like.  Rain,  or  any 
other  soft  water,  should  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing mortar,  and  not  spring  or  hard  water,  though  any 
other  may  be  preferred  to  what  is  brackish  even  in  the 
slightest  degree.  When  mortar  is  made,  if  not  immedi- 
ately used  it  should  be  put  into  a close  pit  or  case,  and 
kept  from  the  air,  in  which  manner  it  will  improve  rather 
than  deteriorate,  though  it  be  for  weeks  or  even  months : 
if  however,  the  moisture  be  allowed  to  exude,  it  will  set 
and  be  spoiled.  When  taken  out  to  be  worked  up,  it  should 
be  again  well  beaten,  and  wetted  sufficiently  to  work  free- 
ly, but  no  more  : nor  should  it  be  re-made  in  this  manner 


BUIL 

Building,  in  larger  quantities  than  are  required  for  immediate  or 
daily  use.  A quick-setting  cement,  such  as  that  which 
is  most  commonly  used  in  building  in  this  country,  and 
known  as  Parker’s  or  Roman  cement,  can  only  be  mixed 
or  gauged  as  it  is  required  for  use.  A bricklayer  will  keep 
a labourer  fully  employed  in  gauging  cement  for  him  alone. 
It  is  mixed  with  sand  in  the  same  manner  that  lime  is  in 
common  mortar,  in  the  proportion  of  about  three  or  four 
of  sand  to  one  of  cement,  according  to  the  quality  of  the 
latter;  and  the  labourer,  as  he  gauges  on  one  board,  supplies 
the  mixture  to  the  bricklayer  fit  for  use  on  another  board, 
a spadeful  at  a time  : it  must  then  be  applied  within  half 
a minute,  or  it  sets  and  is  spoiled. 

The  average  size  of  bricks  in  this  country  is  a fraction 
under  nine  inches  long,  four  and  a half  wide,  and  two  and 
a half  inches  thick ; and  as  their  magnitude  is  limited  by 
law,  or  rather  by  the  duty  imposed  by  law,  the  variation 
cannot  be  great.  In  consequence  of  this  uniformity  of  size, 
a wall  of  this  material  is  described  as  of  so  many  bricks  in 
thickness,  or  of  the  number  of  inches  which  result  from 
the  multiplying  of  nine  inches  by  any  number  of  bricks ; a 
nine  inch  or  one  brick  wall ; a fourteen  inch  wall,  or  of 
one  brick  and  a half  (13|  inches  would  be  more  correct, 
in  fact;  for  although  a joint  of  mortar  must  occur  in  this 
thickness,  yet  the  fraction  under  the  given  size  of  the  brick 
is  enough  to  form  it) ; eighteen  inch  or  two  bricks,  and  so 
on.  A half-brick  wall  is  not,  or  ought  not  to  be,  known, 
except  in  partitions  to  fill  in  between  quartering  or  upright 
timbers,  when  it  is  called  brick-nogging;  and  then  not  more 
than  six  courses  are  laid  without  being  bonded  by  a piece 
of  wood,  called  an  intertie,  skew-nailed  at  each  end  to  the 
quarters : brick-nogging  is  either  flat  or  on  edge,  as  the 
partition  may  be  4^  or  2\  inches  thick. 

The  great  art  in  bricklaying  is  to  preserve  and  main- 
tain a bond,  to  have  every  course  perfectly  horizontal, 
both  longitudinally  and  transversely,  and  perfectly  plumb ; 
which  last,  however,  may  not  mean  upright,  though  that 
is  the  general  acceptation  of  the  term,  for  the  plumb-rule 
may  be  made  to  suit  any  inclination  that  it  is  wished  the 
wall  may  have,  as  inward  against  a bank,  for  instance,  or 
in  a tapering  tower ; and  also  to  make  the  vertical  joints 
recur  perpendicularly  over  each  other  ; this  is  vulgarly  and 
technically  called  keeping  the  perpends.  By  bond  in  brick- 
work is  intended  that  arrangement  which  shall  make  the 
bricks  of  every  course  cover  the  joints  of  those  in  the 
course  below  it,  and  so  tend  to  make  the  whole  mass  or 
combination  of  bricks  act  as  much  together,  or  dependent- 
ly  one  upon  another,  as  possible.  The  object  of  this  will 
Plate  be  understood  by  reference  to  the  diagram,  fig.  1.  Here 
CXXXVI.it  is  evident,  from  the  arrangement  of  the  bricks,  that  any 
weight  placed  on  a would  (supposing,  as  we  are  obliged 
to  suppose,  that  every  brick  feels  equally,  throughout  its 
whole  length,  a stress  laid  on  any  part  of  it)  be  carried 
down  and  borne  alike  in  every  course  from  b to  c ; in 
the  same  manner  the  brick  d is  upborne  by  every  brick 
in  the  line  ef  and  so  throughout  the  structure.  But  this 
forms  a longitudinal  bond  only,  which  cannot  extend  its 
influence  beyond  the  width  of  the  brick ; and  a wall  of 
one  brick  and  a half  or  two  bricks  thick,  built  in  this  man- 
ner, would,  in  effect,  consist  of  three  or  four  half-brick-thick 
walls,  acting  independently  of  each  other,  as  shown  in  the 
plan  at  i,  in  the  diagram,  under  fig.  1.  If  the  bricks  were 
turned  so  as  to  show  their  short  sides  or  ends  in  front,  in- 
stead of  their  long  ones,  certainly  a compact  wall  of  a whole 
brick  in  thickness  would  be  produced  ; but  the  longitudinal 
bond  would  be  shortened  one-half,  as  at  g c h,  and  a wall 
of  any  greater  thickness,  in  the  same  manner,  must  be  com- 
posed of  so  many  independent  one-brick  walls,  as  at  k,  in 
the  plan  before  referred  to.  To  obviate  this,  to  produce 
a transverse,  and  yet  preserve  a good  longitudinal,  bond, 


DIN  G.  75 

the  bricks  are  laid  in  alternate  courses  of  headers  and  Building, 
stretchers,  or  of  ends  and  sides,  as  shown  in  fig.  2,  thus  '***~y^*j 
combining  the  advantages  of  the  two  modes  of  arrange- 
ment a b c and  g c h fig.  1,  in  a b c fig.  2.  Each  brick 
in  fig.  2 showing  its  long  side  in  front,  or  being  a stretcher, 
will  have  another  lying  parallel  to  it,  and  on  the  same  level, 
on  the  other  side,  to  receive  the  other  ends  of  the  bricks 
showing  as  headers  in  front,  which  in  their  turn  bind,  by 
breaking  the  joint  between  them,  as  shown  in  the  end  of 
such  a wall  at  d.  Thus  a well-bonded  nine-inch  or  one 
brick  wall  is  produced.  The  end  elevations  of  the  same  wall 
at  e andy  show  how  the  process  of  bonding  is  pursued  in 
walls  of  one  and  a half  and  two  bricks  thick,  the  stretcher 
being  abutted  in  the  same  course  by  a header  ; thus,  in  a 
fourteen-inch  wall  inverting  the  appearance  on  the  oppo- 
site sides,  as  seen  at  e,  and  producing  the  same  appearance 
in  an  eighteen-inch  wall,  as  at  f In  the  diagram  under 
fig.  2,  at  g,  is  the  plan  of  a fourteen-inch  wall,  showing  the 
headers  on  one  side  and  the  stretchers  on  the  other,  and  at 
h is  the  plan  of  the  course  immediately  above  it,  in  which 
the  headers  and  stretchers  are  inverted ; at  k and  i are 
shown,  in  the  same  manner,  the  plans  of  two  courses  of  an 
eighteen-inch  wall.  This  is  called  English  bond.  Thicker 
walls  are  constructed  in  the  same  manner  by  the  extension 
of  the  same  principle. 

But  a brick  being  exactly  half  its  length  in  breadth,  it 
is  impossible,  commencing  from  a vertical  end  or  angle,  to 
make  a bond  with  whole  bricks,  as  the  joints  must  of  neces- 
sity fall  one  over  the  other.  This  difficulty  is  obviated  by 
cutting  a brick  longitudinally  into  two,  or  transversely  into 
four,  equal  parts,  making  half  headers.  One  of  these  is 
placed  next  to  a whole  header,  inward  from  the  angle,  and 
forms  with  it  a three-quarter  length  between  the  stretchers 
above  and  below,  thus  making  a regular  overlap,  which  may 
then  be  preserved  throughout : these  half  headers  are  tech- 
nically termed  closers.  (See  the  joints  in  the  heading 
courses  next  the  upright  angle  of  the  wall  fig.  2,  and  the 
first  joints  inwards  from  the  square  ends  by  the  headers 
in  the  plans  at  g and  A.)  A three-quarter  stretcher  is  ob- 
viously as  available  for  this  purpose  as  a half  header,  but 
the  latter  is  preferred,  because,  by  the  use  of  it,  uniformity 
of  appearance  is  preserved,  and  whole  bricks  are  retained 
on  the  quoins  or  angles.  In  walls  of  almost  all  thicknesses 
above  nine  inches,  to  preserve  the  transverse,  and  yet  not 
destroy  the  longitudinal  bond,  it  is  frequently  necessary 
to  use  half  bricks ; but  it  becomes  a question  whether  more 
is  not  lost  in  the  general  firmness  and  consistence  of  the 
wall  by  that  necessity,  than  is  gained  in  the  uniformity  of 
the  bond.  It  may  certainly  be  taken  as  a general  rule, 
that  a brick  should  never  be  cut  if  it  can  be  worked  in 
whole,  for  a new  joint  is  thereby  created  in  a construc- 
tion, the  difficulty  of  which  consists  in  obviating  the  debi- 
lity arising  from  the  constant  recurrence  of  joints.  Great 
attention  should  be  paid  to  this,  especially  in  the  quoins 
of  buildings,  in  which  half  bricks  most  readily  occur ; and 
there  it  is  not  only  of  consequence  to  have  the  greatest 
degree  of  consistence,  but  the  quarter  bricks  used  as  closers 
are  already  admitted,  and  the  weakness  consequent  on  their 
admission  would  only  be  increased  by  the  use  of  other  bats, 
or  fragments  of  bricks. 

Another  mode  of  bonding  brick-work,  which  may  be 
supposed  to  have  arisen  from  the  appearance  of  the  ends 
of  a wall  according  to  the  former  mode  of  arrangement 
(see  e and  f fig.  2),  instead  of  placing  the  bricks  in  alter- 
nate courses  of  headers  and  stretchers,  places  headers  and 
stretchers  alternately  in  the  same  course,  fig.  3.  The  plans 
below  this  at  c and  rf  are  of  two  courses  of  a fourteen- inch 
wall,  with  their  bond,  showing  in  what  manner  the  joints 
are  broken  in  the  wall  horizontally  as  well  as  vertically  on 
its  face.  This  is  called  Flemish  bond.  Closers  are  used 


76 


BUILDING. 


Building,  equally  to  English  and  Flemish  bond,  in  the  same  manner, 
and  for  the  same  purpose ; half  bricks  also  will  occur  in 
both,  but  what  has  been  said  with  reference  to  the  use  of 
them  in  the  former  applies  even  with  more  force  to  the 
latter,  for  they  are  more  frequent  in  Flemish  than  in  Eng- 
lish, and  its  transverse  tie  is  thereby  rendered  less  strong. 
Their  occurrence  is  a disadvantage  which  every  care  should 
be  taken  to  obviate.  The  arrangement  of  the  joints,  how- 
ever, in  Flemish  bond,  presenting  a neater  appearance  than 
that  of  English  bond,  it  is  generally  preferred  for  external 
walls  when  their  outer  faces  are  not  to  be  covered  with 
stucco,  or  plaster  composition  of  any  kind ; but  English 
bond  should  have  the  preference  when  the  greatest  degree 
of  strength  and  compactness  is  consideredof  the  highest  im- 
portance, because  it  affords,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  a 
better  transverse  tie  than  the  other,  and  transverse  tie  is 
even  more  important  than  longitudinal. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  improve  the  bond  in  thick 
walls,  by  laying  raking  courses  in  the  core  between  exter- 
nal stretching  courses,  and  reversing  the  rake  when  the 
course  recurs.  This  obviates  whatever  necessity  may  exist 
of  using  half  bricks  in  the  heading  courses,  but  it  leaves 
triangular  interstices  to  be  filled  up  with  bats,  as  the  dia- 
gram fig.  4 shows.  This  represents  the  plan  of  a thirty-six 
inch  or  three-brick  wall  with  raking  courses  at  a,  between 
external  ranges  of  stretchers,  and  lyingon  a complete  course 
of  headers,  and  at  b a wall  of  the  same  thickness  herring- 
boned; courses  of  headers  would  bed  and  cover  this  also, 
and,  in  the  second  course  above,  the  raking  or  herring-bon- 
ing would  be  repeated,  but  the  direction  of  the  bricks  in- 
verted. It  will  be  seen  that  the  latter  demands,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  triangular  filling-in  bats  at  the  outer  ends  of  the 
diagonally  placed  bricks,  half  bricks  to  fill  up  the  central 
line  of  interstices,  rendering  herring-boning  more  objec- 
tionable in  that  particular,  though  it  has  some  advantages 
over  simply  raking,  or  thorough  diagonal  courses,  in  some 
other  points.  Neither  mode  should,  however,  be  recurred 
to  for  walls  of  a less  thickness  than  three  bricks,  and  that 
indeed  is  almost  too  thin  to  admit  of  any  great  advantage 
from  it. 

Skilful  and  ingenious  workmen  are  well  aware  of  the 
necessity  of  attending  to  the  bond,  and  are  ready  both  to 
suggest  and  to  receive  and  practise  an  improvement;  but 
generally  the  workmen  themselves  are  both  ignorant  of  its 
importance  and  careless  in  preserving  it,  even  according 
to  the  common  modes.  Their  work  should  therefore  be 
strictly  supervised  as  they  proceed  with  it;  for  many  of 
the  failures  which  are  constantly  occurring  may  be  refer- 
red to  their  ignorance  or  carelessness  in  this  particular. 

Not  second  in  importance  to  bonding  in  brick-work  is, 
that  it  be  perfectly  plumb,  or  vertical,  and  that  every 
course  be  perfectly  horizontal,  or  level,  both  longitudinal- 
ly and  transversely.  The  lowest  course  in  the  footings  of 
a brick  wall  should  be  laid  with  the  strictest  attention  to 
this  latter  particular ; for  the  bricks  being  of  equal  thick- 
ness throughout,  the  slightest  irregularity  or  incorrectness 
in  that  will  be  carried  into  the  superimposing  courses,  and 
can  only  be  rectified  by  using  a greater  or  less  quantity  of 
mortar  in  one  part  or  another,  so  that  the  wall  will  of  course 
yield  unequally  to  the  superincumbent  weight,  as  the  work 
goes  on,  and  perpetuate  the  infirmity.  To  save  the  trouble 
of  keeping  the  plumb-rule  and  level  constantly  in  his  hands, 
and  yet  to  insure  correct  work,  the  bricklayer,  on  clearing 
the  footings  of  a wall,  builds  up  six  or  eight  courses  at  the 
external  angles  (see  fig.  5),  which  he  carefully  plumbs 
and  levels  across,  and  from  one  to  the  other.  These  form 
a gauge  for  the  intervening  parts  of  the  courses,  a line 
being  tightly  strained  from  one  end  to  the  other,  resting 
on  the  upper  and  outer  angles  of  the  gauge  bricks  of  the 
next  course  to  be  laid,  as  at  a and  b,  fig.  5,  and  with  this 


he  makes  his  work  range.  If,  however,  the  length  be  great,  Building, 
the  line  will  of  course  sag ; to  prevent  which,  it  is  carefully  v*^"y~w/ 
set  and  propped  at  sufficient  distances.  Having  carried 
up  three  or  four  courses  to  a level,  with  the  guidance  of 
the  line,  the  work  should  be  proved  with  the  level  and 
plumb  rule,  and  particularly  with  the  latter  at  the  returns 
and  reveals,  as  well  as  on  the  face  : a smart  tap  with  the 
end  of  the  handle  of  the  trowel  will  generally  suffice  to 
make  a brick  yield  what  little  it  may  be  out,  while  the 
work  is  so  green,  and  not  injure  it.  Good  workmen,  how- 
ever, take  a pride  in  showing  how  correctly  their  work  will 
plumb  without  tapping.  To  work  which  is  circular  on  the 
plan,  both  the  level  and  the  plumb-rule  must  be  used,  to- 
gether with  a gauge-mould  or  a ranging  trammel,  to  every 
course,  as  it  must  be  evident  that  the  line  cannot  be  ap- 
plied to  such  in  the  manner  just  described.  To  every  wall 
of  more  than  one  brick  thick,  two  men  should  be  employ- 
ed at  the  same  time,  one  outside  and  the  other  in ; one 
man  cannot  do  justice  from  one  side,  even  to  a fourteen- 
inch  wall.  Inferior  workmen  and  apprentices  are  general- 
ly employed  as  inside  men,  though  the  work  there  is  of 
quite  as  great  importance  as  exteriorly,  except  for  neat- 
ness, and  for  that  only  if  the  brickwork  is  to  show  on  the 
outside. 

In  the  operation  of  bricklaying,  the  workman  holds  the 
trowel  in  his  right  hand,  and  with  the  left  he  takes  up  the 
bricks  from  the  scaffold,  and  lays  them  in  their  places. 
Spooning  or  shovelling  up  mortar  from  the  board  with  the 
trowel,  he  throws  it  on  the  course  last  laid,  and  with  the 
point  strews  it  over  the  surface  to  form  a bed  for  that 
which  he  is  about  to  set ; whatever  bulges  or  projects  over 
the  outer  edge  of  the  work  below  is  struck  off,  and  being 
caught  on  the  flat  face  of  the  trowel,  is  put  against  the 
side  or  edge  of  the  last  brick  laid  in  the  new  course.  Then 
taking  up  a brick,  he  presses  it  down  in  its  place  until  its 
upper  and  outer  angle  comes  exactly  to  the  line ; and  if 
this  be  not  readily  effected  by  the  hand,  a slight  drawing 
blow  with  the  obtuse  point  of  the  edge  of  the  trowel  does 
it,  or  a tap  with  the  end  of  the  handle  both  draws  it  and 
settles  it  down  farther  than  the  hand  can  press  it.  The 
small  quantity  of  mortar  that  is  pressed  out  in  front,  by 
this  operation,  being  struck  off,  the  joints  are  neatly  drawn 
by  compressing  the  mortar  with  the  point  of  the  trowel, 
and  thus  producing  a fine  smooth  surface, — that  is,  if  the 
work  is  to  be  seen ; for  if  it  is  to  be  plastered,  the  rough 
face  is  left  that  the  plastering  may  the  more  readily  at- 
tach itself,  and  the  joint  is  not  drawn  at  all,  but  the  work- 
man proceeds  in  the  same  manner  with  the  next  brick  in 
advance  along  the  course,  or  to  fill  in  behind  the  one  he 
has  laid  in  front  to  meet  the  work  of  his  mate  on  the  other 
side  of  the  same  wall.  This  is  the  common  mode  of  lay- 
ing bricks.  They  should  not  however  be  merely  laid ; 
every  brick  should  be  rubbed  and  pressed  down  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  force  the  slimy  matter  of  the  mortar  into 
the  pores  of  the  bricks,  and  so  produce  absolute  adhesion. 
Moreover,  to  make  brick-work  as  good  and  perfect  as  it 
may  be,  every  brick  should  be  made  damp,  or  even  wet, 
before  it  is  laid,  otherwise  it  immediately  absorbs  the  mois- 
ture of  the  mortar,  and,  its  surface  being  covered  with  dry 
dust,  and  its  pores  full  of  air,  no  adhesion  can  take  place ; 
but  if  the  brick  be  damp,  and  the  mortar  moist,  the  dust 
is  enveloped  in  the  cementitious  matter  of  the  mortar,  which 
also  enters  the  pores  of  the  brick,  so  that  when  the  water 
evaporates,  their  attachment  is  complete,  the  retention 
and  access  of  air  being  thus  altogether  precluded.  To 
wet  the  bricks  before  they  were  carried  on  to  the  scaffold 
would,  by  making  them  heavier,  add  materially  to  the 
labour  of  carrying  : in  dry  weather  they  would,  moreover, 
become  dry  again  before  they  could  be  used ; and  for  the 
bricklayer  to  wet  every  brick  himself  would  be  an  unne- 


BUILDING. 


77 


Building,  cessary  waste  of  his  time : boys  might  therefore  be  ad- 
vantageously  employed  to  dip  the  bricks  on  the  scaffold, 
and  supply  them  in  a damp  state  to  the  bricklayer’s  hand. 
A watering  pot  with  a fine  rose  to  it  should  also  be  used 
to  moisten  the  upper  surface  of  the  last  laid  course  of 
bricks,  preparatory  to  strewing  the  mortar  over  it.  In 
bricklaying  with  quick  setting  cements  these  things  are 
of  even  more  importance ; indeed,  unless  the  bricks  are 
quite  wet  to  be  set  with  cement,  it  will  not  attach  itself 
to  them  at  all. 

As  mortar  is  a more  yielding  material,  used  in  brick-work 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  making  the  detached  portions  of 
the  staple  adhere,  by  filling  up  their  interstices  and  pro- 
ducing exhaustion,  and  the  object  being  to  produce  as  un- 
yielding and  consistent  a mass  as  possible,  as  much  of  it 
should  be  used  as  is  sufficient  to  produce  the  desired  re- 
sult, and  no  more.  No  two  bricks  should  be  allowed  to 
touch,  because  of  their  inaptitude  to  adhere  to  each  other ; 
and  no  space  between  them  should  be  left  unoccupied  by 
mortar  which  may  produce  adhesion.  When  the  bricks  are 
a fraction  under  two  and  a half  inches  thick,  no  four  courses 
of  bricks  and  mortar,  or  brick-work,  should  exceed  eleven 
inches  in  height ; and  if  they  are  fully  that  thickness,  four 
courses  should  not  reach  eleven  and  a half  inches.  The 
result  of  thick  beds  of  mortar  between  the  bricks  is,  that 
the  mortar  is  pressed  out  after  the  joint  is  drawn,  on  the 
outside,  in  front ; and  being  made  convex  instead  of  slight- 
ly concave,  the  joints  catch  every  drop  of  rain  that  may 
trickle  down  the  face  of  the  wall,  and  are  thus  saturated  ; 
the  moisture  freezes,  and  in  thawing  bursts  the  mortar, 
which  crumbles  away,  and  creates  the  necessity  which  is 
constantly  recurring,  of  pointing  the  joints  to  preserve  the 
wall.  The  diagram  shows  the  section  of  a 
nine-inch  wall,  with  the  joints  on  the  side  a 
as  drawn,  and  on  the  side  b as  bulged,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  quantity  of  mortar  in  them 
yielding  to  the  weight  above.  This,  too,  is  in 
addition  to  the  inconvenient  settling,  which 
is  the  consequence  of  using  too  much  mor- 
tar in  the  beds. 

In  practice,  bricklayers  lay  the  mortar  on  the  course  last 
finished,  and  spread  it  over  the  surface  with  the  trowel, 
without  considering,  or  caring  for  it,  that  they  have  put 
no  mortar  between  the  bricks  of  that  course,  except  in 
the  external  edges  of  the  outside  joints ; that  the  mortar 
is  not,  or  ought  not  to  be,  so  thin  as  to  fall  into  the  joints 
by  its  own  weight ; and  that  unless  they  press  it  down,  half 
the  height  of  the  space  between  the  bricks  remains  in 
every  case  unoccupied,  and  the  wall  is  consequently  hol- 
low, incompact,  and  necessarily  imperfect.  To  obviate 
this,  it  is  common  to  have  thick  walls  grouted  in  every 
course  ; that  is,  mortar  made  liquid,  and  called  grout,  is 
poured  on  to,  and  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  work, 
that  it  may  run  in  and  fill  up  the  joints  completely.  This, 
at  the  best,  is  but  doing  with  grout  what  should  be  done 
with  mortar ; and  the  difference  between  the  two  consist- 
ing merely  in  the  difference  in  the  quantity  of  water  they 
contain,  mortar  must  be  considered  the  best;  for  the  ten- 
dency of  grout  is,  by  hydrostatic  pressure,  to  burst  the 
wall  in  which  it  is  employed ; and,  moreover,  it  must,  by 
taking  a much  longer  time  to  dry  and  shrink  than  the  mor- 
tar of  the  beds  and  external  joints,  make  and  keep  the 
whole  mass  unstable,  and  tend  to  injure  rather  than  be- 
nefit it.  Filling  or  flushing  up  every  course  with  mortar 
is  therefore  far  preferable,  and  may  be  done  with  very 
little  additional  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  workmen. 

It  is  a very  common  thing  for  two  sorts  of  mortar  to  be 
used  in  the  same  wall,  a finer  and  whiter  for  the  outside, 
and  a coarser  for  the  inside  work;  the  former  made  of 
cleaner  and  finer  sand,  and  a greater  quantity  of  lime,  than 


the  latter,  with  the  intention  of  exposing  a better  looking  Building, 
and  more  durable  material  to  the  view  and  the  weather, 

The  sand,  we  have  already  shown,  ought  to  be  as  clean  as 
it  can  be  made  for  mortar  under  all  circumstances ; there- 
fore there  should  be  no  possibility  of  making  a difference 
in  that  particular ; and  the  addition  of  a greater  quantity 
of  lime  than  is  necessary  to  make  good  mortar  makes  it 
less  durable,  and  occasions  a sacrifice  in  an  important  qua- 
lity for  the  sake  of  an  unimportant  advantage.  Moreover, 
the  mortar  which  contains  the  greater  quantity  of  lime 
will  yield  or  settle  more  than  that  which  has  the  greater 
proportion  of  sand. 

All  the  walls  of  a building  that  are  to  sustain  the  same 
floors  and  the  same  roof  should  be  carried  on  simultane- 
ously ; under  no  circumstances  should  more  be  done  in  one 
part  than  can  be  reached  from  the  same  scaffold,  until  all 
the  walls  are  brought  up  to  the  same  height,  and  the  ends 
of  the  part  first  built  should  be  racked  back,  as  at  a b,  fig. 

2,  and  not  carried  up  vertically  with  merely  the  toothing 
necessary  for  the  bond,  as  at  a b,  fig.  3. 

Brick- work  should  never  be  carried  on  in  frosty  weather, 
nor  even  when  it  is  likely  that  frost  will  occur  before  the  walls 
can  be  covered  in  and  become  so  dry  as  not  to  be  affected 
by  frost.  Covering  an  unfinished  wall  with  a thick  layer 
of  straw,  when  frost  may  supei-vene,  is  a very  useful  pre- 
caution ; on  the  straw,  weather  boarding  should  be  laid,  to 
prevent  access  of  moisture  from  rain  or  snow.  Merely  wet 
weather  may  be  guarded  against  by  following  the  directions 
given  above  as  to  flushing  every  course  of  the  work  well 
up  with  mortar,  so  that  no  interstices  be  left  into  which 
water  may  insinuate  itself,  and  by  covering  the  walls  with 
boards  to  act  as  a coping  when  the  men  are  not  actually 
at  work  on  them  ; the  joints  in  the  face  of  a wall  that  is 
not  to  be  plastered  in  any  way  should  be  protected  in  this 
manner  with  great  care. 

In  ordinary  practice  the  bricklayer’s  scaffolds  are  carried 
up  with  the  walls,  and  are  made  to  rest  on  them.  Having 
built  up  the  walls  as  high  as  he  can  conveniently  from  the 
ground,  and  from  a scaffold  on  trestles  perhaps,  he  plants  a 
row  of  poles,  which  vary  in  height  from  thirty  to  forty  and 
even  fifty  feet,  parallel  to  and  at  a distance  of  about  four 
feet  six  inches  from  the  walls,  and  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
feet  apart.  To  these,  which  are  called  standards,  are  attach- 
ed by  means  of  ropes  other  poles  called  ledgers,  horizontal- 
ly and  on  the  inside,  with  their  upper  surface  on  a level  with 
the  highest  course  of  the  wall  yet  laid ; and  on  the  ledgers 
and  wall  short  transverse  poles  called  putlogs  or  putlocks 
are  laid  as  joists  to  carry  the  floor  of  scaffold  boards.  These 
putlocks  are  placed  about  six  or  seven  feet  apart,  accord- 
ing to  the  length  and  strength  of  the  scaffold  boards ; and 
the  ends  which  rest  on  the  walls  are  carefully  laid  on  the 
middle  of  a stretcher,  so  as  to  occupy  the  place  of  a head- 
er brick,  which  is  inserted  when  the  scaffolds  are  struck 
after  the  work  is  finished.  On  the  floor  of  the  scaffold 
thus  formed  the  bricklayer  stands,  and  the  materials  are 
brought  to  him  by  labourers,  in  hods,  from  the  ground 
below,  or  they  are  hoisted  up  in  baskets  and  buckets  by 
means  of  a pulley  wheel  and  fall.  The  mortar  is  placed  on 
ledged  boards  of  about  three  feet  square,  placed  at  conve- 
nient distances  along  the  scaffold ; and  the  bricks  are  strewn 
on  the  scaffold  between  the  mortar  boards,  leaving  a clear 
way  against  the  wall  for  the  workmen  to  move  along  unob- 
structedly.  The  workman  then  recommences  the  operation 
of  bricklaying,  beginning  at  the  extreme  left  of  his  course, 
and  advancing  to  the  right  until  he  reaches  the  angle  or 
quoin  in  that  direction,  or  the  place  where  his  fellow-work- 
man on  the  same  side  may  have  begun.  Thus  he  goes  on 
with  course  after  course  until  the  wall  is  as  high  as  he  can 
conveniently  reach  from  that  scaffold,  when  another  ledger 
is  tied  to  the  poles,  another  row  of  putlocks  laid,  and  the 


78  BU1LDIN  0. 


Building,  boards  are  removed  up  to  the  new  level.  The  ledger  and 
v— most  of  the  putlocks,  however,  remain  to  give  steadiness 
to  the  temporary  structure,  and  so  on  to  the  full  height 
of  the  wall,  piecing  out  the  poles  by  additional  lengths  as 
may  be  required.  If  a scaffold  be  very  much  exposed,  and 
run  to  a great  height,  it  must  be  braced.  This  is  done  by 
tying  poles  diagonally  across  on  the  outside  to  the  stan- 
dards and  ledgers,  and  it  may  be  further  secured  by  tying 
the  ends  of  some  of  the  putlocks  to  the  ledgers;  but  an  out- 
side scaffold  should  never  be  attached  in  any  way  to  the 
building  about  which  it  stands.  A scaffold  should  never 
be  loaded  heavily,  as  well  on  account  of  the  work  as  of  the 
scaffold  itself;  for  the  putlocks  resting,  as  they  do,  on  single 
bricks,  in  a green  wall,  they  exert  an  injurious  Influence 
on  it,  which  every  additional  pound  weight  on  the  scaffold 
must  necessarily  increase.  A constant  and  steady  supply 
of  bricks  and  mortar  on  the  part  of  the  labourers,  without 
overloading  the  scaffold  at  any  one  time,  should  be  strictly 
required.  It  would  indeed  be  an  advantage  if  every  scaf- 
fold were  made  with  a double  row  of  poles  and  ledgers, 
one  being  on  the  inside,  within  a few  inches  of  the  wall. 
This  would  obviate  the  necessity  of  resting  the  putlocks 
on  the  walls,  and  do  away  with  putlock  holes ; but  the 
inner  row  of  poles  would  be  constantly  in  the  way  of  the 
bricklayer,  who  could  not  either  set  the  bricks  or  draw 
the  joints  so  well  as  if  he  were  unobstructed.  Access  is 
given  to  scaffolds  by  ladders,  and  by  inclined  planes ; the 
former  are  more  commonly  used  externally,  and  the  latter 
internally. 

Arches  in  brick-work  are  plain,  rough,  cut,  or  gauged. 
Plain  arches  are  built  of  uncut  bricks,  and  the  bricks  being 
parallelopipedons,  an  arch  built  of  them  must  be  made  out 
with  mortar  ; that  is,  the  difference  between  the  outer  and 
inner  periphery  of  the  arch  requiring  the  parts  of  which  an 
arch  is  made  up  to  be  wedge-formed,  as  at  a, 
which  the  brick  is  not,  the 
difference  must  be  made 
in  mortar,  as  at  b,  so  that 
the  inner  or  lower  angles  of  bricks  used  for 
this  purpose  should  absolutely  touch,  and  the  mortar  should 
be  more  consistent  than  that  used  in  ordinary  walling ; nor 
should  the  centre  on  which  an  arch  of  this  kind  is  set  or 
built  be  struck  or  removed  until  the  work  is  absolutely  dry, 
or  rather  all  such  arches  should  be  set  in  cement  which 
will  dry  immediately.  In  consequence  of  this  inherent 
defect  in  uncut-brick  arches,  in  extensive  continuousworks, 
such  as  sewers,  tunnels,  vaults,  &c.  it  is  advisable  to  make 
them  in  thin  independent  rings  of  half-brick  or  one  brick 
thick,  as  the  case  may  be  ; that  is,  a nine-inch  arch  should 
be  in  two  half-brick  arches,  as  at  a,  fig.  6,  and  an  eigh- 
teen-inch arch  in  two  one-bricks,  as  at  b,  each  arch  in  the 
latter  case  being  bonded  in  itself  as  in  a common  nine-inch 
wall  with  headers  and  stretchers.  It  is  evident  that,  by 
this  mode  of  structure,  a greater  quantity  of  the  solid  ma- 
terial comes  into  the  back  or  outer  ring  or  arch  than  into 
the  lower  one ; and  if  they  had  been  bonded  together  into 
one  arch,  as  at  c,  all  that  difference  must  have  been  made 
up  with  mortar.  Moreover,  whatever  pressure  comes  on 
the  outer  ring  is  carried  by  it  directly  to  the  inner  or 
lower,  from  whose  joints,  however,  the  mortar  cannot  es- 
cape or  be  pressed  out,  the  inner  angles  of  the  bricks,  by 
meeting,  preventing  it  below,  and  the  bricks  themselves 
of  the  upper  arch,  which  conveys  the  pressure,  are  them- 
selves opposed  to  the  back  of  the  same  joints,  so  that  its 
power  of  resistance  is  made  equal  to  that  of  the  bricks  them- 
selves, except  at  the  ends ; which,  in  such  works  as  we  have 
supposed,  are  remote,  and  may  be  protected  by  the  use  of 
cement  in  their  joints,  whilst  mortar  is  used  in  the  rest. 

Rough  arches  are  those  in  which  the  bricks  are  roughly 
cut  with  an  axe  to  a wedge  form,  and  are  used  over  open- 


ings, such  as  doors  and  windows,  when  the  work  is  to  be  Building, 
plastered  on  the  outside,  or  in  plain  back  fronts,  out- 
houses,  garden-walls,  &c.  when,  however,  they  are  neatly 
pointed  with  what  is  called  a tuck  or  tucked  joint.  Semi- 
circular and  elliptical  arches  are  generally  made  plain,  or 
without  cutting  the  bricks;  but  arches  composedof  a small- 
er segment  of  a circle  (vulgarly  and  technically  called 
scheme  arches),  if  not  gauged,  are  cut  or  axed.  Very  flat 
arches  are  technically  distinguished  from  the  quicker  seg- 
ment, or  scheme,  by  the  term  camber,  from  the  French 
word  cambrer,  to  round  like  an  arch.  It  is  arches  of  this 
kind  which  are  generally  employed  over  windows  and  doors 
in  external  work,  and  they  too  are  either  cut  or  gauged. 

Gauged  arches  are  composed  of  bricks  which  are  cut 
and  rubbed  to  gauges  and  moulds,  so  as  to  form  perfectly 
fitting  parts,  as  in  masonry.  Gauging  is  equally  applica- 
ble to  arches  and  to  walling,  as  it  means  no  more  than  the 
bringing  every  brick  exactly  to  a certain  form,  by  cutting 
and  rubbing,  or  grinding  it  to  a certain  gauge  or  measure, 
so  that  it  will  exactly  fit  into  its  place,  as  in  the  finer  works 
of  masonry.  Gauged  brick-work  is  set  in  a putty  instead 
of  common  mortar,  but  it  is  seldom  used  except  for  arches 
in  the  fronts  of  houses,  &c.  which  are  to  be  neatly  finished. 

These  are  for  the  most  part  straight,  and  are  generally  from 
eleven  to  twelve  inches  in  depth,  or  the  height  of  four  courses 
of  brick-work.  Their  valueas  archeswill  be  best  understood 
by  reference  to  the  diagram,  fig.  7,  by  which  it  appears 
that  all  the  material  between  the  soffit  of  the  straight  arch 
or  head  of  the  opening  b c,  and  the  dotted  line  b f c,  is 
useless,  the  intrados  or  soffit  of  the  really  efficient  part  of 
the  arch  being  at  that  dotted  line  itself.  This  is  the  arc 
of  an  angle  of  60° ; its  chord,  the  width  of  the  opening, 
being  the  base  of  an  equilateral  triangle  constructed  on  it, 
and  the  joints  are  the  radii  of  a circle  whose  centre  is  at 
a.  b d and  c e,  the  continuations  of  the  sides  of  the 
triangle  or  radii  a b and  a c,  are  technically  termed  the 
skew-back  of  the  arch.  Sometimes  the  arc  is  made  that 
of  a more  acute  angle,  in  which  case  the  skew-back  is  less, 
that  is,  the  external  angles  c b d,  and  bee,  are  less  ob- 
tuse ; a smaller  inavailable  portion  of  the  arch  is  thus  left 
between  the  arc  and  its  chord,  but  that  portion  is  less 
securely  retained  under  the  flatter  segment,  because  the 
joints  or  radii  diverge  less,  or  are  more  nearly  parallel. 

These  gauged  arches  being,  as  they  for  the  most  part  are, 
but  a half  brick  in  thickness,  and  not  being  tied  by  a bond 
to  anything  behind  them — for  indeed  almost  the  whole,  if 
not  the  whole,  of  their  height,  is  occupied  behind  by  the 
reveal  and  the  wooden  lintel — require  to  be  executed  with 
great  care  and  nicety.  It  is  a common  fault  with  workmen 
to  rub  the  bricks  thinner  behind  than  before,  to  insure  a very 
fine  joint  in  front, which  must  tend  to  make  it  bowoutwards: 
it  should  rather  be  inverted,  if  it  be  done  at  all,  though  the 
best  work  is  that  in  which  the  bricks  are  gauged  to  a per- 
fect parallel  in  their  lateral  thickness.  Fig.  8 is  a trans- 
verse section  of  fig.  7,  and  the  gauged  arch,  lintel,  &c.  in 
it  showing  the  total  disconnection  of  the  gauged  arch  with 
any  surrounding  brick-work  to  which  it  might  be  bonded. 

The  absurdity  of  constructing  arches  circular  on  the  plan, 
especially  in  a thin  unbonded  shell  of  bricks,  is  so  clear 
as  hardly  to  require  notice. 

Gauged  facing  to  a wall  is  exceedingly  objectionable,  un- 
less the  bricks  used  for  the  gauged  work  be  originally  a 
little  larger  than  those  which  are  to  be  worked  in  behind, 
whose  size  should  be  their  gauge,  othenvise  no  bond  can 
be  kept  between  the  bulk  of  the  wall  and  its  face ; and  the 
same  mortar  or  putty  should  be  used  throughout,  of  equal 
consistence,  and  with  joints  of  equal  thickness,  or  the  wrork 
cannot  be  sound  and  compact. 

Everything  relating  to  the  construction  of  niches,  groins, 
domes,  &c.  may  be  referred  to  the  articles  Arch,  Bridge, 


BUIL 

Building,  and  Stone-Masonry  ; the  difference  between  stone  and 
brick,  as  far  as  the  principle  is  concerned,  being  only  in 
the  comparative  magnitude  of  the  parts ; for  to  make  per- 
fect arches,  &c.  it  is  clear  that  the  bricks  must  be  cut  to 
the  same  forms  that  are  required  in  stone. 

It  is  generally  held  that  nothing  but  its  own  components 
should  be  admitted  into  a brick  wall,  except  what  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  its  connection  with  the  other  parts  of 
a building,  such  as  wall-plates  and  wood-bricks  (and  that 
these  should  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible),  templates, 
lintels,  &c.  Wall-plates  are  required  to  receive  the  ends 
of  the  joists,  and  distribute  the  weight  of  the  floor  to  which 
they  belong  equally  along  the  walls.  If  the  joists  tailed 
singly  on  the  naked  bricks,  their  thin  edges  would  crush 
those  immediately  under  them,  and  the  rest  of  the  brick- 
work would  escape  immediate  pressure  altogether.  Wall- 
plates  may  be  superseded  by  the  use  of  templates ; but  this 
involves  the  necessity  of  framed  floors,  which  are  carried 
by  a few  large  beams,  under  whose  ends  stout  pieces  of 
timber  three  or  four  feet  in  length  are  placed.  These  are 
intended,  like  a wall-plate,  to  distribute  the  weight  over  a 
considerable  part  of  the  wall,  and  prevent  the  necessity  of 
placing  the  beam  on  the  naked  friable  bricks,  and  are  call- 
ed templates.  Lintels  are  used  over  square-headed  win- 
' dows  and  doors,  instead  of  arches  in  brick-work.  They  are 
useful  to  preserve  the  square  form  and  receive  the  joiner’s 
fittings,  but  they  should  always  have  discharging  arches 
over  them,  and  should  not  tail  into  the  wall  at  either  end 
more  than  a few  inches,  that  the  discharging  arch  be  not 
wider  than  is  absolutely  necessary.  If,  however,  discharg- 
ing arches  be  not  turned  over  them,  the  lintels  should  tail 
in  at  each  end  considerably,  and  have  small  templates  or 
wood  bricks  placed  transversely  under  them,  as  shown  in 
the  diagram,  fig.  9.  This  indicates  the  elevation  of  the 
inside  of  part  of  an  external  wall  with  a window  in  it,  and 
shows  the  lintel  over  the  latter,  with  a discharging  arch 
over  it,  and  wood  bricks  under  its  ends,  on  the  jambs  of 
the  opening.  Discharging  arches  should  be  turned  over  the 
ends  of  beams,  and  templates  also,  as  in  fig.  10.  They  may 
generally  be  quadrants  of  a circle,  or  even  flatter,  and 
should  be  turned  in  two  or  more  half  bricks  over  doors 
and  windows,  and  other  wide  openings,  but  over  the  ends 
of  beams  they  need  not  be  in  more  than  one  half  brick. 

Wood  bricks  are  used  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  driv- 
ing wedges  into  the  joints  of  brick-work  to  nail  the  joiner’s 
work  to.  They  are  pieces  of  timber  generally  cut  to  the 
size  and  shape  of  a brick,  and  worked  in  as  bricks  in  the 
inner  face  of  a wall,  where  it  is  known  the  joiners  have 
occasion  for  something  of  the  kind.  This  is  principally  in 
the  jambs  of  the  windows  and  doors  for  their  fittings,  and 
along  the  walls,  at  proper  heights,  for  the  skirtings  or  wains- 
cotting,  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  use  of  bond  timber  in  brick  walls  is  objectionable, 
because  of  its  liability  to  shrink  and  swell,  to  decay,  and 
to  be  consumed  by  fire,  in  any  of  which  cases  the  struc- 
ture to  which  it  belongs  is  either  injure^,  endangered,  or 
absolutely  destroyed.  It  is,  however,  valuable  to  tie  the 
angles  of  walls,  and  to  distribute  the  various  weights  equal- 
ly throughout  the  walls,  thus  tending  to  prevent  irre- 
gular settlements,  whether  arising  from  any  defect  in  a 
foundation,  or  from  an  extraordinary  imposition  of  weight 
in  any  particular  part.  The  objections  to  bond  timber  de- 
pend on  contingencies  against  which  it  may  be  in  a great 
degree  protected  by  care  and  judicious  management.  If 
the  timber  be  of  a durable  sort,  sound  and  well  seasoned, 
neither  shrinking  nor  swelling  need  be  feared  if  it  be  not 
placed  in  a damp  situation,  or  where  moisture  can  gain 
access  to  it ; nor  will  it  decay  if  it  be  entirely  incased  in 
anything,  to  the  total  exclusion  of  the  external  atmosphere. 
If  timber  be  laid  in  the  heart  of  a wall,  it  should  be  well 


DING.  79 

imbedded  in,  and  flushed  round  and  over  with  mortar,  as  Building, 
we  have  shown  that  bricks  should  be  for  other  reasons ; 
and  if  it  be  laid  in  the  face  of  a wall,  it  should  be  only 
where  its  exposed  face  can  be  effectually  protected  from 
access  of  moisture,  as  when  it  is  covered  by  the  plasterer. 

Damage  by  fire  is  a remote  contingency ; and  as  it  may  be 
confidently  asserted  that  bond  timber  was  never  the  part 
of  a structure  in  which  a fire  commenced,  except  perhaps 
from  some  gross  misplacement  of  it,  it  is  moreover  the  last 
combustible  part  that  a fire  could  reach,  and  therefore, 
when  it  is  arrived  at,  almost  all  the  damage  that  can  be 
done  has  already  accrued.  Bond  timber  certainly  may 
be,  and  constantly  is,  exposed  to  all  the  cited  contingen- 
cies ; but  they  generally  arise  from  circumstances  which  it 
may  be  in  a greater  or  less  degree  protected  from.  Flat 
wrought-iron  bars  have  been  recommended  as  ties  in  lieu 
of  bond  timber;  but  besides  the  equal  liability  of  that 
metal  to  decay  if  it  be  exposed  to  damp  or  to  a confined 
atmosphere,  bars  of  it  cannot  be  properly  worked  up  or 
combined  with  brick-work ; and  its  susceptibility  of  changes 
of  temperature  renders  it  far  more  unfit  than  timber  to 
be  compounded  with  materials  whose  greatest  merits  are 
firmness,  and  an  inaptitude  to  change  under  any  circum- 
stances. The  frangibility  of  cast  iron  makes  it  also  exceed- 
ingly objectionable  as  a bond  or  tie  in  brick  walls. 

It  will  be  generally  found  that  a brick  wall  built  with 
mortar  and  faced  with  ashlar  has  settled  inward  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  as  the  work  has  been  more  or  less 
carefully  performed.  Indeed  in  the  nature  of  things  it 
cannot  be  otherwise,  unless  the  brick  backing  be  worked 
in  some  cement  which  sets  and  hardens  at  once ; for  the 
outer  face  is  composed  of  a layer  of  unyielding  material, 
with  few  and  very  thin  joints,  which  perhaps  do  not  oc- 
cupy a fiftieth  part  of  its  extent,  while  the  back  is  built 
up  of  an  infinity  of  small  parts,  with  fully  one  eighth  its 
height  of  joints,  which  are  composed  of  material  that 
must  both  yield  to  pressure  and  shrink  in  drying.  Some 
part  of  the  ill  effect  attendant  on  this  is  obviated  by  the 
bond-stones,  which  tail  in  or  run  through  the  wall,  and 
tend  to  keep  the  discordant  materials  together ; but  still 
much  of  it  remains  : and  besides  this,  the  internal  or  cross 
walls,  which  have  no  stone  in  them,  will  either  settle  down 
and  shrink  away  from  the  external  walls,  or  drag  them  in- 
ward, as  they  happen  to  be  well  or  ill  bonded  or  tied. 

For  these  reasons,  brick-work  built  in  this  manner  with 
masonry  should  be  executed  with  exceedingly  well-tem- 
pered mortar,  made  with  no  more  lime  than  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  cement  the  particles  of  sand  together,  and 
the  sand  again  to  the  bricks,  worked  as  stiff  as  it  can  be, 
and  laid  in  as  thin  courses  as  may  be  to  answer  the  pur- 
pose required  of  it.  Above  all,  work  of  this  kind  must  not 
be  hurried,  but  allowed  time  to  dry  and  shrink  as  it  goes  on. 

Discharging  arches  over  vacuities  having  been  disposed 
of  incidentally,  we  have  now  only  to  speak  of  them  under 
openings,  in  which  situation  their  use  is  to  distribute  the 
superincumbent  weight  equally  over  the  substructure,  or 
along  the  foundation,  as  the  case  may  be.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  arch  is  inverted,  as  shown  in  the  diagram,  fig.piate 
14,  and  by  means  of  it  the  weight  brought  down  by  thecxxxVIL 
piers  is  carried  along  the  footings,  which  are  thus  equal- 
ly borne  upon  throughout  their  whole  length.  Arches 
of  two  half  bricks  are  indicated  here,  that  being  suffi- 
cient for  ordinary  purposes,  and  to  develope  the  principle ; 
in  large  and  heavy  works,  arches  of  three  half  bricks,  and 
even  greater,  may  be  judged  necessary.  Any  arc  be- 
tween a quadrant  and  a semicircle  may  be  used  with  ad- 
vantage ; but  an  arc  ofless  than  45°  cannot  be  recommend- 
ed for  the  inverted  discharging  arch  under  piers.  If  it 
should  so  happen  that  an  old  well  or  cess-pool,  that  cannot 
without  great  inconvenience  and  expense  be  filled  up  with 


80  B U I L 

Building.  soun(l  walling,  or  in  some  other  efficient  manner,  or  other 
irremediably  bad  place,  occur  in  a foundation,  and  fall  un- 
der a pier,  the  ground  being  sound  on  either  side  of  it,  a 
second  discharging  arch  may  be  formed  under  the  pier 
and  over  the  unsound  part,  resting  its  legs  on,  or  springing 
from,  the  inverted  arch  under  the  opening,  and  on  the 
sound  ground,  as  indicated  by  the  dotted  arch  in  the  last 
quoted  diagram,  fig.  14. 

Not  the  least  important  part  of  the  bricklayer’s  art  is 
the  formation  of  chimney  and  other  flues.  Great  tact  is 
required  in  gathering  over  properly  above  the  fire-place, 
so  as  to  conduct  the  smoke  into  the  smaller  flue,  which 
itself  requires  to  be  built  with  great  care  and  precision, 
that  it  be  not  of  various  capacity  in  different  parts,  in 
one  place  contracted  to  a narrow  strait,  and  in  another 
more  widely  expanded,  and  so  on.  With  the  present  im- 
perfect means  of  cleaning  chimney  flues,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  they  be  of  a certain  magnitude,  which  should 
be  carefully  maintained  throughout ; but  it  would  be  bet- 
ter that  they  were  made  oval,  or  with  the  angles  taken  oft’ 
at  least,  than  parallelograms  in  plan,  as  the  practice  is. 
Chimney  flues  are  plastered  or  pargetted  with  a mortar  in 
which  a certain  proportion  of  cow-dung  is  mixed,  which 
prevents  it  from  cracking  and  peeling  oft’  with  the  heat  to 
which  it  is  exposed.  Experiment  has  proved  that  a taper- 
ing and  nearly  cylindrical  flue  of  much  smaller  bore  than 
is  now  required  is  the  best  for  carrying  away  smoke ; and 
with  a more  humane  and  more  efficient  mode  of  cleaning, 
such  a one  would  be  unexceptionable.  Of  course,  too,  the 
bore  should  be  regulated  by  the  size  of  the  fire-place,  or 
rather  by  the  quantity  of  smoke  to  which  it  is  required  to 
give  vent. 

Sewers  and  drains  which  are  not  cylindrical  should  be 
built  with  concave  bottoms,  although  the  sides  be  parallel 
and  the  covering  horizontal.  The  concave  channel  keeps 
the  stream  more  together,  and  enables  it  the  better  to  carry 
its  impurities  along  with  it ; whereas  a flat-bottomed  drain 
offers  a large  surface  for  the  particles  of  soil  to  attach 
themselves  to,  and  the  stream  of  water,  being  more  scat- 
tered, is  less  efficient  in  force.  All  drains  in  houses  and 
in  other  places  where  it  may  be  necessary  to  open  them 
at  any  time,  should  be  of  the  form  of  which  a,  fig.  11,  is  a 
section,  with  a flat  covering  of  stone  paving,  or  large, 
strong,  paving  tiles,  set  and  jointed  with  cement.  Gun- 
barrel  drains,  as  at  b,  are  the  best  in  exposed  situations, 
because  they  are  the  strongest ; but  as  there  is  no  mode 
of  cleaning  but  by  breaking  them  up,  if  they  are  too 
long  to  be  raked,  they  should  not  be  employed  except 
with  a considerable  fall,  and  a frequent  or  constant  stream 
of  water  through  them,  as  from  a pump-trough,  rain-wa- 
ter trunks,  &c.  They  are  constructed  on  a barrelled 
centre,  which  the  bricklayer  drags  on  as  he  advances 
with  his  work,  finishing  as  he  goes.  Large  sewers,  which 
are  accessible  from  the  ends  by  men  to  clear  or  remove 
any  accidental  obstructions,  are  best  circular  or  ellipti- 
cal ; the  latter  of  the  two  is  generally  preferred,  be- 
cause, in  proportion  to  its  capacity,  its  height  is  greater ; 
but  most  frequently  the  sides  of  large  sewers  are  made 
vertical  and  parallel,  with  a flat,  inverted  arch  below, 
and  a semicircular  head,  as  at  c.  This  form,  however,  it 
is  evident,  is  disqualified  to  resist  lateral  pressure  to  any 
extent ; nor  indeed  is  the  circular  or  elliptical  sewer  secure 
in  its  arched  form,  unless  the  weight  above  is  sufficient 
to  counteract  any  force  the  sides  may  be  subjected  to. 
No  drain  should  have  an  inclination  or  fall  of  less  than 
one  quarter  of  an  inch  to  a foot;  and  where  the  stream 
is  infrequent  and  dull,  as  much  more  would  be  a great 
advantage.  In  building  drains  it  is  of  great  importance 
that  proper  traps  should  be  constructed  to  prevent  the 
return  of  smells  and  the  passage  of  vermin.  At  every 


DING. 

sink  there  should  be  a bell-trap,  and  a well-trap  within  Building, 
that,  or  near  the  hither  end  of  the  drain.  Suppose  a 
drain  of  the  form  of  that  shown  at  a,  fig.  11,  nine  inches 
wide  and  nine  inches  deep,  leading  from  a kitchen  or 
scullery  to  the  common  sewer  of  the  house,  in  which  it 
meets  that  which  comes  from  the  water-closet  and  other 
places.  The  bell-trap  in  the  sink  itself  will  prevent  the 
return  of  smell  when  it  is  constantly  in  use,  but  it  is 
liable  to  be  broken  and  otherwise  injured  by  the  ignorance 
and  impatience  of  servants  and  others,  or  it  may  become 
dry  by  evaporation  in  some  situations ; it  is  therefore  ne- 
cessary to  have  a trap  not  so  liable  to  contingencies.  Let 
a well  be  made  eighteen  inches  or  two  feet  in  diameter, 
square  or  round,  and  two  feet  six  inches  or  three  feet 
deep,  across  and  below  the  level  of  the  drain,  as  shown  in 
the  plan,  fig.  12,  and  longitudinal  section  of  the  same, 
fig.  13 ; it  must  be  built  around  with  brick,  in  cement,  and 
be  plastered  on  the  inside  with  the  same  material,  which 
will  make  it  capable  of  retaining  fluids.  Uprightly  across 
this  well,  and  in  the  transverse  direction  of  the  drain, 
must  be  placed  a sound  piece  of  paving  stone,  so  long  that 
its  ends  may  be  inserted  in  the  sides  of  the  well,  as  shown 
in  fig.  12,  and  so  wide  that  its  upper  edge  shall  touch  the 
covering  of  the  drain,  and  that  its  lower  may  reach  six  or 
nine  inches  down  into  the  well  below  the  bottom  of  the 
drain.  Mortar  or  cement  must  prevent  the  passage  of 
air  between  the  upper  edge  of  this  trap-stone  and  the 
cover  of  the  well  and  drain,  and  the  trap  is  complete. 

The  water  coming  from  the  sink  flows  along  the  drain 
from  a to  b (fig.  13),  where  it  falls  into  the  well,  and  fill- 
ing it  up  to  that  level,  it  flows  on  again  from  c in  the  di- 
rection of  d,  to  the  cess-pool  or  common  sewer,  from 
which,  however,  no  smell  can  return ; for  the  trap-stone 
e,  the  lower  half  of  which  is  thus  immersed  in  water,  com- 
pletely bars  the  passage.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  if 
the  well  should  leak,  the  water  in  it  may  fall  below  the 
lower  edge  of  the  stone,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  trap  be 
destroyed  ; but  if  it  be  made  perfect  in  the  first  instance, 
there  can  be  no  danger  of  any  inconvenience  that  a bucket 
of  water  thrown  in  at  the  sink  will  not  cure.  It  is  from  the 
drying  up  of  the  water  in  these  well-traps  (vulgarly  call- 
ed stink-traps ) that  uninhabited  houses  are  so  frequently 
offensive.  It  must  be  clear,  moreover,  that  these  traps 
form  an  effectual  bar  to  vermin,  and  they  may  there- 
fore be  advantageously  placed  at  the  entrance  of  water- 
closet  drains,  to  prevent  rats  from  getting  at  the  soil- 
pipes,  which  they  will  gnaw  and  destroy  if  they  can  get 
access  to  them.  Internal  drains,  or  those  which  go  through 
a house,  should  always  pass  under  the  doorways  if  pos- 
sible, and  above  the  inverted  arch,  which  should  be  al- 
ways found  under  them,  in  external  walls  at  least.  If, 
however,  circumstances  should  render  it  absolutely  ne- 
cessary to  take  a drain  through  a wall,  an  arched  ring  or 
bull’s  eye  should  be  made  for  it  to  pass  by. 

Cess-pools  should  be  made  cylindrical,  and  be  bricked 
round ; but  whether  they  are  made  to  retain  fluids  or  not, 
can  seldom  be  a matter  of  consequence,  as  they  are  ge- 
nerally put  in  secluded  places,  where,  if  the  object  be  not 
to  get  rid  of  the  waste,  there  is  seldom,  at  least,  any  de- 
sire to  retain  it.  In  towns  and  cities  where  the  common 
sewerage  is  as  complete  as  it  should  be,  and  water-closets 
are  used  instead  of  privies,  cess-pools  are  unnecessary,  as 
the  soil  becomes  so  much  diluted  by  the  water  that  goes 
down  with  it,  that  it  flows  readily  enough  through  the 
private  drains  to  the  common  sewer,  and  so  on  with  the 
rest,  to  the  common  receptacle.  Sometimes,  indeed,  it 
may  be  found  necessary  to  clean  out  the  well-traps,  but 
this  cannot  often  occur. 

The  construction  of  ovens  and  furnaces,  and  well-steen- 
ing,  are  certainly  within  the  range  of  the  bricklayer’s  art, 


BUILDING. 


81 


Building,  but  as  they  are  not  immediately  connected  with  our  present 
subject,  they  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  article. 

Brick  and  tile  paving  is  performed  by  the  bricklayer. 
Brick  paving  is  either  flat,  or  on  edge,  in  sand,  or  in  mor- 
tar or  cement.  Brick  flat  paving  in  sand,  that  is,  with 
the  bricks  laid  on  their  broadest  surfaces,  and  bedded  in 
and  on  dry  sand,  is  very  slight  and  fragile,  and  brick  flat 
paving  set  and  bedded  in  mortar  is  very  little  better; 
for  if  the  soil  on  which  the  paving  is  laid  be  light  and 
sandy,  the  bricks  are  easily  displaced  by  being  pressed 
unequally;  and  if  it  be  clayey  it  will  probably  be  moist, 
and  the  thin  porous  brick  absorbing  the  moisture,  will  ge- 
nerally become  saturated,  and  present  a damp,  unwhole- 
some floor.  Paving  with  bricks  on  their  edges,  how- 
ever, forms  a much  better  floor,  and  is  preferable  to  a 
stone  paving,  if  the  latter  be  laid  on  the  ground  without 
the  intervention  of  footings.  Brick-on-edge  paving  in 
sand  is  generally  used  in  beer  cellars,  pantries,  dairies, 
stables,  &c.  as  its  numerous  open  joints  allow  wasted  or 
discharged  fluids  readily  to  escape ; and  it  is  both  cool 
and  dry  under  ordinary  circumstances.  In  mortar  or  ce- 
ment, bricks  on  their  edges  form  a sound,  dry  floor;  the 
smallness  of  the  surface  exposed  by  each  brick  in  this 
manner  leaves  them  of  course  less  susceptible  of  partial 
pressures,  and  the  depth  from  the  soil  to  the  surface  is 
such  that  damp  rarely  shows  through.  The  paving  brick 
differs  from  the  common  brick  only  in  thickness,  its  di- 
mension in  that  direction  being  rather  less  than  two  inches 
instead  of  two  inches  and  a half,  and  in  being  rather 
harder  and  more  compact.  Dutch  clinkers  are  paving 
bricks,  smaller  and  much  harder  than  the  English  ; they 
are  six  inches  long,  three  inches  wide,  and  one  inch  and 
a half  thick,  and  are  always  set  on  edge  and  herring- 
boned ; that  is,  instead  of  being  placed  in  parallel  lines,  they 
are  set  at  right  angles  to  each  other  \ x\  /X  / 
thus, — with  nevertheless  a perfectly  sV\/a\\// C'xV'/V 
even  face.  Paving  tiles  are  made 
nine  inches  and  a half  and  eleven 
inches  and  a half  square,  though  they  x/  \x  \x 
are  called  ten  inch  and  twelve  inch  or  foot  tiles  respec- 
tively, the  former  being  one  inch,  and  the  latter  one  inch 
and  a half  thick  ; they  are  set  in  courses,  as  stone  paving 
would  be.  Paving  tiles  make  a neater,  but  not  so  sound 
and  durable  a pavement,  as  brick  on  edge. 

Tiling  being  much  less  in  vogue  than  formerly,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  better  appreciation  of  the  superior  quali- 
ties of  slate  for  covering  roofs,  and  the  moderate  cost  at 
which  slates  are  now  furnished  to  the  builder,  it  no  longer 
maintains  its  separate  artificer,  but  is  performed,  when  it 
is  required,  by  the  bricklayer.  It  consists,  for  the  most 
part,  of  two  sorts — plain  tiling  and  pan  tiling.  Plain  tiles 
are  simple  parallelograms,  generally  about  ten  inches  and 
a half  in  length,  six  inches  wide,  and  five  eighths  of  an 
i inch  thick ; and  each  tile  has  a hole  pierced  through  it 
near  one  end,  to  receive  the  wooden  pin  by  which  it  is 
hooked  on  to  the  lath.  The  tiles  are  laid  in  mortar  on 
the  laths,  which  in  this  country  are  of  oak  or  fir,  with  an 
overlap  of  six,  seven,  or  eight  inches.  The  greatest  overlap 
or  smallest  gauge  makes  the  securest  work,  though  it  does 
not  present  so  good  an  appearance  externally  as  a longer 
gauge  does ; and  it  requires,  moreover,  a greater  number 
of  tiles  and  laths,  thereby  adding  materially  both  to  the 
weight  and  the  cost.  The  great  overlap  and  the  mortar  are 
both  necessary,  nevertheless,  to  prevent  the  rain  and  snow 
from  driving  in  between  and  under  the  tiles.  Plain  tiling 
requires  the  pitch  of  the  roof  to  be  at  an  angle  of  at  least 
50°,  and  is  one  of  the  heaviest  coverings  that  can  be  used, 
though  it  is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  warmest.  The 
tiles,  however,  readily  and  rapidly  absorb  moisture,  which 
they  communicate  to  the  laths  and  rafters  under  them,  to 


the  serious  injury  of  both  the  latter;  and  the  mortar  in  Building, 
which  they  are  set  requires  to  be  frequently  pointed,  the 
constant  atmospheric  changes  to  which  it  is  exposed  occa- 
sioning it  to  crumble  and  fall  away  in  a very  short  time. 

Pan  tiles  are  parallelograms  of  irregular  surface,  straight 
in  the  direction  of  their  length,  which  is  thirteen  inches 
and  a half,  but  twisted  to  this  form  ifA. — ^ in  the  trans- 
verse section.  Measuring  the  whole  surface  across,  a tile 
is  nine  inches  wide,  but  in  a right  line  from  point  to  point 
not  more  than  seven,  and  its  thickness  is  half  an  inch ; a 
small  tongue  or  lip  is  bent  down  at  one  end,  from  its  flat- 
ter convexity,  on  the  under  side,  to  hook  it  on  to  the  lath 
by,  instead  of  a wooden  pin  through  it,  as  in  a plain  tile. 

Pan  tiles  are  set  dry  or  in  mortar,  on  laths.  They  are  not 
laid  side  by  side,  but  overlapping  laterally,  thus ; conse- 
quently all  the  overlap  they  have  lon- 
gitudinally is  three  or  four  inches  only, 
or  enough  to  prevent  rain  and  snow 
from  driving  up  under  the  upper,  over 
the  end  of  the  lower  tile ; and  thence 
pan  tiling  is  but  little  more  than  half 
the  weight  of  plain  tiling.  It  is  never- 
theless a much  less  warm  covering  for  houses,  and  is  more 
liable  to  be  injured  by  violent  gales  or  gusts  of  wind,  than 
the  latter  is ; but  again,  it  presents  a far  more  pleasing  ap- 
pearance to  the  eye.  Pan  tiling  will  not  bear  a much  flatter 
pitch  than  the  other,  but  it  is  greatly  improved  by  being 
pointed  on  the  inside  with  lime  and  hair ; sometimes  indeed 
the  whole  of  the  work  is,  as  we  have  said,  set  in  mortar ; 
but  this  mode  has  disadvantages  to  which  pointing  inter- 
nally is  not  liable,  and  its  superiority  in  other  respects  is 
questionable.  To  both  pan  and  plain  tiling  there  is  a 
large  concave  tile  used  to  cover  the  hips  and  ridges  of  a 
roof.  These  are  not  generally  made  to  overlap  each  other 
in  any  situation,  but  are  set  in  mortar,  and  fastened  with 
nails  and  hooks  fitted  for  the  purpose. 

When  the  top  of  a brick  wall  is  not  protected  by  a 
roof,  it  must  be  covered  or  coped  in  some  manner,  or  it 
will  soon  be  destroyed  by  the  weather.  Sometimes  this 
is  done  by  means  of  a course  of  bricks  set  across  it  on 
their  edges  in  cement,  and  called  a barge  course,  but  it 
is  a very  imperfect  covering,  for  water  will  trickle  down 
the  face  of  the  wall  on  both  sides,  as  the  coping  brick 
can  be  no  longer  than  the  thinnest  wall  is  in  thickness. 

Two  double  courses  of  plain  tiles  may  be  put  side  by  side 
under  the  barge  course,  making  a projection  over  either 
face  of  about  one  inch  and  a half ; thus, — 

Section.  Elevation. 


Sc 


nr 

This  is  much  better  than  the  barge  course  alone:  but  still 
the  covering  possesses  no  inclination  outwards  to  throw  the 
water  off ; the  upper  surfaces  are  all  horizontal.  The  same 
objection  exists  to  foot-paving  tiles,  which  are  also  used  as 
a coping ; but  none  of  these  methods  is  available  for  any 
wall  above  nine  inches  in  thickness.  Stone  coping,  there- 
fore, which  may  be  made  of  sufficient  width,  and  be  both 
weathered  and  throated,  is  much  to  be  preferred. 

One  of  the  greatest  faults  in  the  modern  practice  of 
building,  both  architecturally  as  a matter  of  taste,  and 
practically  as  a matter  of  prudence,  is,  that  these  copings, 
and  cornices  which  serve  as  such,  do  not  project  suffi- 
ciently to  protect  the  face  of  the  wall  on  which  they  may 
be  placed,  from  the  weather.  A bold,  massive,  and  well- 
projected  cornice  on  a wall  serves  as  a roof  or  pent-house 
to  it,  and,  besides  imparting  great  beauty  to  the  plainest 
structure,  protects  the  wall  from  the  premature  decay  of 


Barge  course.  ||  ] 1 1 I II  1 I 1 I I l! 
Tile  creasing.  ■■  31  • ■ 1-  • % ■ = ■ - *-■  === 


82  BUILDING. 

Building,  its  upper  part  especially,  and  of  the  joints  generally,  if  it  ascertain  the  quantities  and  bring  them  to  a standard,  is  Building, 
be  unplastered  brick-work,  which  thereby  calls  for  the  con-  as  follows  : — 

stant  repetition  of  pointing.  Effective  and  pleasing  cor-  The  exact  superficies  of  so  much  of  a wall  as  may  be 
nices  and  blocking  courses  may  be  formed  with  uncut  of  the  same  thickness  is  taken,  and  the  number  of  bricks 
bricks  alone;  and  these,  set  in  cement,  would,  with  judi-  it  is  in  thickness  placed  marginally;  all  the  different  por- 
cious  management,  add  materially  both  to  the  appearance  tions  or  parts  being  of  the  same  thickness  are  taken  in  like 
and  durability  of  brick-work,  without  the  foreign  aid  of  manner,  and  then  deductions,  as  of  window  openings  and 
the  plasterer  or  mason.  doorways,  are  taken  as  such,  in  superficies,  with  their  re- 

From  the  injury  which  accrues  to  the  joints  of  brick-  spective  thicknesses  placed  marginally  also.  The  dimen- 
work  through  bad  management  in  its  execution,  and  im-  sions,  on  being  squared,  are  abstracted  in  half  bricks,  the 
perfect  protection  when  executed,  arises  the  necessity  so  deductions  made  of  like  thicknesses  from  like  thicknesses, 
frequent  at  the  present  day  of  pointing.  and  the  whole  reduced  by  multiplying  each  quantity  by 

Sometimes  frost  will  have  supervened  before  the  sur-  the  number  of  half  bricks  in  the  thickness  of  the  parts  of 
faces  of  the  joints  in  a wall  are  dry;  consequently  the  the  wall  which  the  margin  expresses,  and  dividing  the 
mortar  bursts  and  peels  away,  and  the  whole  then  re-  product  by  three  (the  number  of  half  bricks  in  one  brick 
quires  to  be  pointed.  Preparatory  to  this  operation  the  and  a half,  the  standard),  the  reduced  quantity  which  re- 
scaffold,  if  it  has  been  struck,  must  be  re-erected,  the  suits,  divided  again  by  272,  the  number  of  feet  in  a rod, 
mortar  raked  out  of  the  joints  to  a depth  of  about  three  gives  the  quantity  of  rods  and  feet  in  the  wall ; as,  for  ex- 
eighths of  an  inch,  or  deeper  if  the  injury  have  reached  ample, — The  frontwall  of  a house  is  thirty-five  feet  in  length 
further; — this  can  be  done  by  a labourer; — a brick-layer  on  the  ground  floor.  (Fig.  14.)  It  has  a basement  story 
then  goes  over  the  whole  with  a hard  hair-brush  and  wa-  twelve  feet  high  from  the  top  of  the  footings  to  the  level  of 
ter  to  cleanse  and  moisten  the  joints  ; and  then,  with  mor-  the  ground  floor,  and  two  and  a half  bricks  thick,  which  is 
tar  prepared  for  the  purpose,  he  carefully  fills  them  all  up,  a half  brick  more  than  the  wall  above.  The  footings  are 
and  neatly  draws  them  with  his  trowel.  This  mortar  three  spreading  courses  high,  each  course  a half  brick  thicker 
must  be  of  the  best  quality;  it  is  generally  compounded  than  the  one  above  it.  In  the  basement  wall  there  are  a 
with  a certain  proportion  of  forge  ashes,  which  gives  it  a door  and  two  windows,  the  former  seven  feet  by  three  feet 
blue  tinge,  and  greatly  aids  its  power  of  resisting  the  ac-  six  inches  between  the  reveals,  and  the  latter  five  feet  by 
tion  of  the  weather.  Cement  is  sometimes  used  instead  three  feet  nine  inches  between  the  reveals  also.  The  mea- 
of  this  blue  mortar.  If  the  wall  to  be  pointed  be  a front  surement  of  thus  much  will  show  how  all  the  rest  must  be 
or  other  important  one,  in  which  peculiar  neatness  is  re-  done. 

quired,  every  joint  is  marked  with  a narrow  parallel  ridge  The  footings  consisting  of  three  equally  spreading 
of  a fine  white  putty,  in  the  composition  of  which  bone  courses,  the  extent  of  the  middle  one  both  in  length  and 
lime  forms  a principal  ingredient.  The  former  is  called  breadth  will  be  an  average  of  them  all,  so  that  they  may 
flat-joint,  and  the  latter  tuck-pointing.  If  it  be  an  old  wall  be  taken  in  one  height.  To  the  length  of  the  ground 
that  requires  pointing,  a scaffold  must  be  erected  before  floor,  thirty-five  feet,  must  be  added  twice  three  sets-off 
it;  and  where  the  putlocks  cannot  be  rested  on  window  of  one  fourth  of  a brick  at  each  end  of  the  basement,  and 
sills  and  the  like,  half  bricks  are  generally  drawn  from  of  the  two  first  courses  of  footings  for  the  length  of  the 
the  wall  to  make  rests  for  them,  and  restored  again  when  second  of  them ; this  is  equal  to  three  half  bricks,  or  thir- 
the  work  is  done.  The  former  process  is  then  gone  through  teen  and  a half  inches,  which,  added  to  thirty-five  feet, 
with  a common  wall ; but  if  it  require  tuck-pointing,  the  makes  thirty-six  feet  one  and  a half  inch  the  dimension 
whole  surface  is  well  washed,  and  then  coloured,  to  look  of  length  for  the  footings,  by  nine  inches,  their  height ; 
like  new,  before  the  pointing  is  done.  The  gauged  arches  their  average  thickness,  to 
over  the  windows  and  doors  are  always  coloured,  and  the  be  placed  in  the  margin,  is 
joints  drawn  with  peculiar  neatness.  If  in  the  original  three  and  a half  bricks,  the 
building  of  the  wall  the  perpends  have  not  been  preserv-  highest  course  being  three 
ed,  that  is,  if  the  vertical  joints  have  not  been  made  to  fall  bricks,  the  second  three  and 
perpendicularly  in  the  alternately  recurring  courses,  the  a half,  and  the  third  or  low- 
workman  in  pointing  stops  up  the  old  joints,  which  are  ir-  est'four  bricks.  That  is  the 
regular,  with  putty  of  a brick  colour,  and  forms  false  new  first  quantity.  The  next  is  of 
ones  in  the  proper  places.  the  wall  above.  The  length 

The  tools  and  implements  mostly  employed  by  the  (one  half  brick,  for  the  two 
bricklayer  are  the  trowel,  the  plumb-rule,  the  level,  the  sets-off,  added  to  thirty-five 
square,  the  bevel,  line-pins  and  lines,  the  raker,  and  the  feet,  gives)  thirty-five  feet 
hammer,  together  with  a hod  and  spade  for  his  labourer,  four  and  a half  inches,  by  the 
Besides  these  there  are  sundry  others  used  in  cutting  and  height  twelve  feet,  two  and 
gauging  bricks,  and  some  which  are  peculiar  to  tiling  and  a half  bricks  thick.  The  de- 
paving ; but  the  most  material  operations  can  be  performed  ductions  are  seven  feet  by 
with  those  enumerated  here.  A pug-mill  and  screens  for  three  feet  six  inches  in  one 
mixing  and  tempering  mortar  are  also  auxiliaries  of  great  brick  for  the  door,  between 
importance.  the  reveals,  and  seven  feet 

Brick-work  is  valued  by  the  rod.  A rod  of  brick-work  is  four  and  a half  inches  by  four 
a quantity  whose  superficies  is  272£  feet  (taken  in  practice  feet  three  inches  in  one  and 
at  the  round  number  272  without  the  fraction),  and  thick-  a half  brick  behind  the  re- 
ness  one  brick  and  a half.  Reckoning  the  one  brick  and  veals,  the  rest  of  the  thick- 
a half  at  thirteen  inches  and  a half, — its  average  extent, — ness  of  the  wall,  an  addition 
the  cubic  foot  is  to  the  reduced  superficial  foot  as  eight  of  one  half  brick  being  made 
to  nine,  so  that  a cubic  rod  of  brick-work  consists  of  306  to  the  height,  and  of  two  half 

feet,  the  result  of  272  multiplied  by  nine  and  divided  by  bricks  to  the  width,  because  of  the  reveals.  The  windows 
eight.  The  reduced  superficial  rod,  however,  is  that  com-  are  taken  in  exactly  the  same  manner,  with  the  same  addi- 
monly  used  in  practice ; and  the  process  of  measuring,  to  tions ; but  as  the  two  are  of  the  same  size,  their  number 


56 

9 

27 

1 

Footings. 

1 H w 1 

0 

424 

6 

Basement  wall 
from  the  top  of 

i °co 

footings  to  the 
level  of  ground 
floor. 

1 

7 

3 

24 

6 

Deduct  for  door 
between  there- 

7 

4 

o 

31 

4 

veals. 

Do.  behind  the 
reveals. 

2) 

1 ° 05  1 

1 

5 

3 

37 

6 

Do.  for  the  win- 
dows between 

2) 

the  reveals. 

5 

4 

$ 

48 

Do-  behind  the 

reveals. 


Abstract  of  the  above  Quantities. 


£ brick. 

Deductions 
in  £ brick. 

189  7 
2122  6 

71  'C  ^ 
tn  to 

000 

2312  1 

363  1 

145  li 

3)1949  0 

565  1£ 

272JG49  8(2  rods  105  feet  8 inches. 
544 


105  8 


83 


BUILDING. 


Building,  is  marked  against  the  one  dimension.  The  dimensions  are 
now  to  be  squared,  and  the  squaring  is  done  by  duodeci- 
mals, or  cross-multiplication.  36  feet  1-|  inches  X -9  inches 
= 27  feet  1 inch;  35  feet  4|  inches  X 12  feet  is  = 424 
feet  6 inches,  and  so  on  with  the  rest.  An  abstract  is  then 
made  of  these  quantities  in  two  columns,  the  first  is  marked 
“ one  half  brick,”  and  the  second  “ deductions  in  that  thick- 
ness.” In  the  first  column  is  placed  the  first  quantity,  mul- 
tiplied by  seven,  the  number  of  half  bricks  in  three  and  a 
half,  which  stands  marginally  to  it ; 24  feet  6 inches  X 7 
— 189  feet  7 inches.  The  second  dimension  follows  in 
the  same  column,  multiplied  by  five,  the  number  of  half 
bricks  in  its  thickness ; the  next  quantity  is  a deduction, 
that  is  placed  in  the  second  column,  multiplied  by  two, 
the  thickness  of  the  part  deducted  being  one  brick,  and 
the  rest  in  the  same  manner.  The  abstract  being  com- 
pleted, the  columns  are  added,  and  the  amount  of  the  se- 
cond deducted  from  that  of  the  first,  and  the  difference 
divided  by  three,  which  brings  it  to  the  reduced  standard. 
Dividing  now  by  272,  the  number  of  rods  and  feet  in  the 
given  wall  appears  to  be  2 rods,  185  feet,  8 inches.  The 
quantities  are  more  generally  abstracted  in  one-brick  and 
one  and  a half  brick  columns,  with  deductions  in  other 
parallel  columns,  to  which  thicknesses  they  are  all  readily 
brought.  The  single  column  in  one  half  brick  is,  however, 
assumed  here  as  the  more  simple  and  the  more  easily  ex- 
plained. 

It  must  be  remembered,  that  in  taking  the  return  or  end 
walls,  the  thickness  of  that  which  has  been  already  taken 
in  front  is  to  be  deducted  from  their  length,  or  the  angle- 
pier  or  quoin  will  be  taken  twice.  Work  which  is  circu- 
lar on  the  plan  may  be  taken  separately,  and  charged  at  a 
higher  price  altogether,  or  it  may  be  measured  as  plain, 
and  an  extra  taken  at  so  much  the  superficial  foot.  Chim- 
ney breasts  are  taken  as  additional  quantities,  with  the 
thicknesses  they  project,  and  the  opening  for  the  fire- 
place is  deducted ; but  the  flues  are  measured  as  solid, 
the  extra  labour  and  mortar  in  forming  and  pargetting 
them  being  fully  equal  in  value  to  the  bricks  saved. 

A rod  of  brick-work  will  consume  about  4500  bricks, 
though  the  number  will  be  a few  more  or  less  than  this, 
as  the  bricks  happen  to  be  below  or  above  the  average 
size,  and  as  the  joints  are  made  thicker  or  thinner.  The 
quantity  of  mortar,  it  is  evident,  will  be  affected  by  the 
latter  consideration  also ; but  in  London  it  is  generally 
reckoned  at  from  ninety  to  a hundred  striked  bushels,  or 
from  four  to  four  and  a half  cart  loads,  each  containing 
about  one  cubic  yard,  to  the  rod.  The  labour  on  a rod  of 
brick-work  may  be  taken  on  an  average  at  the  wages  of 
a bricklayer,  and  his  assistant  or  labourer,  for  four  days ; 
this,  however,  does  not  include  making  and  beating  the 
mortar,  nor  scaffolding,  which  latter  must  be  separately 
considered.  Many  things  will,  however,  affect  the  time 
1 in  which  the  work  may  be  performed,  both  of  the  brick- 
layer and  his  labourer ; the  former  can  do  one  fourth  as 
much  more,  at  the  least,  in  walls  which  are  to  be  plastered, 
as  in  those  in  which  he  has  to  keep  the  perpends  and 
draw  the  joints,  &c.,  and  more  in  thick  walls  than  in  thin 
ones ; and  the  capability  of  the  latter  will  depend,  inverse- 
ly, on  the  rate  at  which  the  former  can  proceed,  on  the 
distance  he  may  have  to  carry  the  bricks  and  mortar  to 
the  foot  of  the  ladder,  and  mainly  on  the  height  he  has  to 
carry  the  materials  up  the  ladder.  In  great  heights,  how- 
ever, the  materials  should  always  be  hoisted. 

Gauged  arches  are  taken  at  so  much  per  foot  superfi- 
cial, in  addition  to  being  measured  in  as  brick-work.  Both 
the  vertical  and  horizontal  surfaces  are  measured  to  ob- 
tain the  superficies  of  the  arch,  or  rather  of  the  work  upon 
it.  Rough  arches  are  also  taken  as  an  extra  superficial 
quantity ; but  plain  arches  in  vaults,  &c.  and  discharging 


arches,  are  not  considered  extras,  though  an  allowance  is  Building, 
made  for  cutting  to  moulds,  for  inverted  discharging  arches, 
at  per  foot  run. 

If  a wall  be  faced  with  bricks  of  a more  costly  sort  than 
that  of  which  the  bulk  is  composed,  or  worked  in  a pecu- 
liar manner,  it  is  calculated  by  the  foot  superficial,  also  in 
addition  to  its  measurement  as  brick-work.  It  should  be  a 
matter  of  previous  agreement  whether  or  not  there  shall 
be  an  extra  charge  for  plumbing  quoins  and  reveals.  Un- 
der ordinary  circumstances  no  allowance  is  made  for  it ; 
but  oblique  vertical  angles,  both  internal  and  external, 
which  require  to  have  bricks  neatly  cut  to  form  them, 
are  taken  at  so  much  per  foot  running  measure.  Exter- 
nal oblique  angles  are  technically  termed  squint-quoins, 
and  internal,  birds-mouth.  Oblique  angles  within  a build- 
ing are  taken  as  run  of  cut  splay.  Cuttings  to  rakes  or 
inclined  straight  lines  are  taken  by  the  running  foot  also, 
but  with  reference  to  the  thickness  of  the  wrall.  Cuttings 
to  ramps  or  concave  lines  are  measured  and  valued  in  the 
same  manner.  Sailing  or  projecting  courses,  preparations 
for  plaster  cornices,  and  brick  cornices  themselves,  are  all 
taken  at  so  much  per  foot  run,  according  to  the  labour 
and  materials  involved  in  working  them,  over  and  above 
the  regular  charge  for  the  brick-work  by  the  rod. 

Every  thing,  indeed,  which  adds  to  the  labour  of  exe- 
cuting brick-work,  and  consumes  more  than  the  ordinary 
quantity  of  materials,  is  taken  in  addition,  either  by  the 
foot  superficial,  or  by  the  foot  running,  or  in  numbers,  as 
the  setting  of  chimney-pots,  bedding  and  pointing  door 
and  sash-frames,  &c.  Bond-timbers,  lintels,  and  whll- 
plates,  are  generally  measured  in  with  the  brick-work,  on 
account  of  the  trouble  of  bedding  them,  and  the  delay  ge- 
nerally occasioned  to  the  bricklayer  in  setting  them.  If 
they  are  not  included  with  the  brick-work,  bedding  them 
is  an  extra  charge,  at  so  much  per  foot  run  ; and  then  fill- 
ing in  between  the  ends  of  the  joists  and  beams  generally 
requires  to  be  taken  also. 

Brick-nogging  is  measured  by  the  superficial  yard,  in- 
cluding the  quarterings  and  interties,  and  making  no  de- 
ductions but  for  openings.  Drains  and  sewers  are  mea- 
sured by  the  foot  run,  according  to  their  form  and  capa- 
city. The  quantity  of  materials  consumed,  and  labour 
required  in  constructing  them,  maybe  readily  obtained  by 
calculating  the  one,  and  observing  the  quantity  a man  with 
a labourer  can  execute  under  the  circumstances,  whatever 
they  may  be,  within  a given  time. 

Paving  is  measured  by  the  superficial  yard  of  nine  feet; 
tiling  by  the  square  of  one  hundred  feet; — eaves  courses, 
ridges,  and  hips,  being  extra  charges,  by  the  foot  run. 
Pointing,  whether  to  old  or  new  work,  is  measured  by  the 
superficial  foot;  and  the  scaffolding  for  it,  when  scaffold- 
ing is  required,  is  either  included  in  the  price  per  foot  for 
pointing,  or  a charge  is  made  for  the  use  of  it,  together 
with  the  cost  of  carting,  and  the  men’s  time  in  setting  up 
and  removing  it. 

Mason. — We  must  refer  to  the  separate  article  under 
the  heads  Stone-Masonry  and  Stone-Cutting  for  in- 
formation on  those  subjects  generally.  It  will,  however, 
be  necessary  to  give  a few  particulars  here  on  masons’ 
work,  as  it  has  to  do  with  other  artificers’  works  in  the  pro- 
cess of  building,  and  especially  with  reference  to  various 
species  of  walling,  or  modes  of  constructing  walls  of  stone. 

Prom  the  regular  and  determined  form  of  bricks,  modes 
or  systems  for  setting  or  arranging  them  may  be  formed, 
and  any  workman,  by  habit  and  an  exertion  of  memory 
merely,  may  become  competent  to  build  a brick  wall  as 
well  as  it  can  be  built;  but  it  is  not  so  with  stone  used  in 
common  masonry  walling.  The  workman  in  this  material 
has  for  the  most  part  to  do  with  masses  of  all  forms  and 
of  all  sizes,  and  a continual  exercise  of  the  judgment  is 


84  B U I L 

Building,  required  from  him  beyond  the  tact  or  skill  which  may  be 
acquired  by  practice.  For  this  reason  workmen  are  ge- 
nerally less  to  be  trusted  to  themselves,  or  to  their  own 
discretion,  in  stone  than  even  in  brick-laying  or  walling. 
The  best  or  highest  sort  of  stone  walling  is  the  easiest 
to  set;  it  is  that  in  which  the  stones  are  all  tooled  and 
gauged  in  regular  parallelogram ic  figures,  to  range  in 
courses  and  suit  the  thickness  of  the  wall  to  which  they 
are  to  belong;  and  the  most  difficult  to  execute  properly 
is  that  in  which  amorphous  stones  are  used, — the  mason 
being  allowed  merely  to  dress  them  roughly  with  his  ham- 
mer or  axe,  and  fit  them  in  as  he  best  can  to  form  the  most 
compact  mass:  this  is  called  rubble  walling. 

From  the  brittle  nature  of  stone,  great  tact  is  required 
in  setting,  to  prop  or  bear  up  the  longer  pieces  in  every 
part,  or  they  will  break  across,  and  thus  occasion  more  in- 
jury than  could  accrue  if  their  whole  mass  had  been  made 
up  of  small  pieces.  Very  long  lengths,  therefore,  should 
be  avoided,  even  in  regular  tooled  courses,  with  which  the 
bearing  is  or  should  be  perfectly  even,  and  a settling  down 
of  the  work  itself  is  hardly  to  be  feared.  There  is  a cer- 
tain medium  which  may  be  preserved;  and  although  the 
object  is  obviously,  in  stone  as  in  brick  walls,  to  form  a 
compact  mass,  as  unbroken  into  parts  as  possible,  a mason 
will  act  more  judiciously  in  breaking  a long  stone  into  two 
or  more  shorter  ones,  and  working  them  in  in  that  state, 
though  he  thus  makes  two  or  more  additional  joints,  well 
knowing  that  he  has  the  power  of  counteracting  to  r cer- 
tain extent  the  ill  effect  of  joints  made  by  himselr,  but 
that  those  made  by  accident  are  irremediably  injurious. 

The  observations  made  in  the  section  of  this  article  on 
bricklaying,  on  the  use  of  mortar,  will  apply  here  also.  Of 
whatever  quality  the  stone  may  be  of  which  a wall  is  to 
be  built,  it  should  consist  as  much  of  stone  and  as  little 
of  mortar  as  possible.  If  it  be  inferior  in  durability  and 
power  of  resisting  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  &c.  to  the 
mortar,  besides  the  certain  fact  that  the  mortar  will  yield 
until  it  has  set  hard,  and  so  far  act  injuriously,  no  ulterior 
good  is  gained  ; and  if  the  stone  be  the  more  durable  ma- 
terial, the  more  of  it  that  enters  into  the  wall  the  better. 
Indeed,  in  rough  walling,  if  the  stones  be  pressed  together 
until  the  more  prominent  angles  on  their  faces  come  into 
actual  contact,  the  interstices  being  occupied  by  mortar, 
it  will  be  better  than  if  a thick  yielding  mass  were  allow- 
ed to  remain  between  them.  Absolute  contact,  however, 
should  not  be  permitted,  anymore  than  in  brick-work,  lest 
the  shrinking  of  the  mortar  in  drying  leave  the  stones  to 
such  unequal  bearing  as  the  prominent  parts  alone  would 
afford.  Stone  being  generally  of  a less  absorbent  nature 
than  brick,  it  is  not  a matter  of  so  much  importance  that 
it  be  wetted  before  setting;  nevertheless, adhesion  on  the 
part  of  the  mortar  is  more  certain  and  more  complete  if 
the  stones  be  worked  in  in  at  least  a damp  state.  What 
bond  is,  and  the  necessity  for  it,  have  also  been  shown  in 
the  preceding  section ; and  bond  is  of  not  less  importance 
in  stone  walling  than  in  bricklaying.  We  have  also  hint- 
ed above  at  the  greater  difficulty  of  understanding,  form- 
ing, and  preserving  it  in  the  former,  and  can  now  only  add 
a few  observations  in  addition  that  can  be  of  any  use,  and 
these  with  reference  to  rubble  walling  particularly.  In- 
stead of  carefully  making  the  joints  recur  one  over  the  other 
in  alternate  courses,  as  with  bricks  and  gauged  stones,  the 
joints  should  as  carefully  be  made  to  lock,  so  as  to  give 
the  strength  of  two  or  three  courses  or  layers  between 
a joint  in  one  course,  and  one  that  may  occur  vertically 
over  it  in  another.  In  bonding  through  a wall,  or  trans- 
versely, it  is  much  better  that  many  stones  should  reach 
two  thirds  across,  alternately  from  the  opposite  sides,  than 
that  there  should  be  a few  thorough  stones,  or  stones  ex- 
tending the  whole  thickness  of  the  wall.  Indeed,  one  of 


I)  I N G. 

the  many  faults  of  stone-masons  is  that  of  making  a wall  Building, 
consist  of  two  scales  or  thin  sides,  with  thorough  stones  '-y-'—/ 
now  and  then  laid  across  to  bind  them  together,  the  core 
being  made  up  of  mortar  and  small  rubble  merely.  This 
is  a mode  of  structure  that  should  be  carefully  guarded 
against.  I here  is  no  better  test  of  a workman’s  tact  and 
judgment  in  rubble  walling  than  the  building  of  a dry  wall, 
or  a wall  without  mortar,  affords; — walls  are  frequently 
built  with  mortar  that  without  it  would  have  fallen  down 
under  their  own  weight  in  a height  of  six  feet,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  defective  construction; — thus  rendering  it 
evident  that  they  are  only  held  together  by  the  tenacity  of 
the  mortar,  which  is  very  seldom  an  equivalent  for  a pro- 
per bond  of  stone.  Masons  are  very  apt  to  set  thin  broad 
stones  on  their  narrow  edges  to  show  a good  face,  by 
which  the  wall  is  injured  in  two  ways ; it  tends  to  the  for- 
mation of  a mere  case  on  the  surface  of  a wall,  and  it  for 
the  most  part  exposes  the  bed  of  the  stone  to  the  atmo- 
sphere, as  a stone  is  more  likely  to  be  broad  in  the  direc- 
tion of  its  bed  than  across  it. 

Rubble  walling  is  either  coursed  or  uncoursed.  In  the 
latter  sort,  fig.  15,  the  work  is  carried  on  with  stones  of 
any  sizes,  as  they  may  occur,  and  without  reference  to 
their  heights,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  the  Cyclopaean 
walling  of  antiquity;  the  interstices  of  the  larger  being 
filled  up  with  smaller  stones.  For  this  work  the  mason 
uses  no  tool  but  the  trowel  to  lay  on  the  mortar,  the  scab- 
ling  hammer  to  break  off  the  most  repulsive  irregularities 
from  the  stones,  and  the  plumb-rule  to  keep  his  work  per- 
pendicular. The  line  and  level  are  equally  unnecessary, 
as  the  work  is  independent  of  considerations  which  are 
affected  by  them.  An  attentive  and  intelligent  workman 
will,  however,  make  a sound  wall  with  this  species  of  con- 
struction, by  fitting  the  stones  well  together  and  packing 
them  with  as  little  mortar  as  possible,  yet  filling  every 
crevice  with  it,  and  carefully  bonding  through  to  secure 
compactness,  transversely  at  the  least. 

In  coursed  rubble  walling,  fig.  16,  the  line  and  level  are 
used,  the  work  is  laid  in  courses,  each  course  being  care- 
fully brought  up  to  the  same  level  in  itself,  though  no  at- 
tention is  paid  to  uniformity  in  the  heights  of  the  different 
courses.  For  this  species  of  walling  the  stones  are  gene- 
rally roughly  dressed  by  the  workman  in  the  gross  before 
he  begins  building.  He  is  careful  to  get  parallel  beds  to 
them,  and  he  brings  the  best  face  of  each  stone  to  a toler- 
ably even  surface  at  right  angles  to  the  beds ; the  ends, 
too,  receive  some  little  attention,  and  for  this  purpose  he 
uses  an  axe  in  addition  to  his  scabling  hammer.  The 
quoins  in  coursed  rubble  walling  are  generally  built  with 
peculiar  neatness  and  precision,  and  they  are  set  to  serve 
as  gauge  courses  for  the  rest.  This,  when  well  executed, 
makes  a sound  and  excellent  wall.  It  presents,  however, 
rather  a rough  and  homely  appearance,  and  in  finer  works 
must  be  covered  with  stucco  or  cement,  or  faced  with 
ashlar. 

Ashlar  is  an  external  rind  of  gauged  stones  in  equal 
courses,  having  tooled  or  closely-fitting  joints  to  give  a 
wall  a neat  and  uniform  appearance ; it  is  axed,  tooled, 
or  rubbed,  as  may  be  thought  most  in  character  with  the 
structure,  or  that  part  of  it  to  which  it  is  to  belong.  Ash- 
lar stones,  or  ashlars  as  they  are  commonly  called,  are 
made  of  various  sizes  on  the  surface,  as  the  character  of 
the  edifice  may  require  or  convenience  demand,  and  vary 
in  thickness  from  five  to  eight  or  nine  inches.  Some  of 
the  ashlar  stones  must,  it  is  clear,  be  used  transversely  as 
bond  stones,  or  the  facing,  having  nothing  to  connect  it 
with  the  wall  behind,  would  soon  totter  and  fall.  Bond 
stones  are  generally  put  in  alternate  courses,  with  the 
backing  to  the  jambs  of  openings,  such  as  windows,  and 
oftener,  if  these  do  not  recur  within  a length  of  five  or  six 


BUILDING.  85 


Building,  feet;  the  bond  stones  themselves,  too,  should  notfall  in  the 
same  vertical  chain,  except  when  they  are  in  the  jambs  of 
openings,  but  break  in  their  alternate  courses.  Ashlar  is 
commonly  set  in  a fine  mortar  or  in  putty.  It  is  generally 
recommended  that  ashlars  should  not  be  made  regular 
parallelopipedons,  but  run  back  irregularly  to  tooth  in  with 
the  backing,  the  vertical  joints  being  left  open  from  about 
an  inch  within  the  face  of  the  wall,  and  the  upper  surface 
or  bed  of  the  stones  made  narrower  than,  though  perfectly 
parallel  to,  the  lower.  These  things  may  exert  a slightly 
beneficial  influence  under  some  circumstances ; but  the 
mode  of  construction  involved  is  so  radically  bad,  that 
unless  the  backing  is  set  in  a quick-setting  cement,  or  be 
so  well  packed  as  to  be  proof  against  its  general  tendency 
to  settle  away  from  the  ashlar  facing,  no  means  of  the 
kind  can  materially  improve  it.  A well-compacted  wall 
of  coursed  rubble,  the  courses  being  frequently  made  up 
of  whole  stones  and  faced  with  ashlar,  may  be  made  toler- 
ably sound  and  trust-worthy.  Brick  backing,  with  ashlar 
facing,  cannot  be  considered  as  good,  though  it  has  the 
advantage  of  not  requiring  battening  and  lathing  for  in- 
side plastering,  as  the  stone-backed  wall  does.  Uncours- 
ed rubble  with  ashlar  has  all  the  disadvantages  of  both 
the  preceding,  with  nothing  to  recommend  it  above  either 
of  them. 

There  are,  besides,  many  sorts  of  walling  or  modes  of 
structure  arising  from  the  nature  of  the  materials  furnish- 
ed in  various  localities.  That  of  most  frequent  occurrence, 
perhaps,  is  a manner  in  which  either  broken  or  rounded 
flints  are  used.  These  depend  almost  entirely  on  the 
mortar  with  which  they  are  compacted,  and  on  a coursed 
chain,  which  is  commonly  introduced  at  short  intervals  of 
larger  stones  or  bricks,  to  act  as  a bond ; the  quoins,  too, 
in  this  species  of  structure  are  generally  constructed  of 
dressed  stones  or  brick. 

Whatever  objections  lie  against  bond  timber  in  brick- 
work apply  with  equal  force  at  least  to  the  use  of  it  in 
stone  walls;  and  it  is  of  less  importance  generally  as  a tie 
in  the  latter  than  in  the  former,  because  a chain  may  be 
made  by  means  of  metal  cramps  and  dovetails  of  wood  or 
cast  iron.  A chain  of  this  kind  does  not  distribute  pres- 
sure, however,  as  well  as  a chain  of  timber  bond  does,  be- 
cause of  the  liability  of  the  material  to  fracture  when  it  is 
borne  upon  unequally,  and  therefore  may  not  be  consider- 
ed an  equivalent  for  wall-plates  or  templates. 

Discharging  arches,  it  must  be  evident,  are  as  necessary 
in  and  to  stone  walls  as  to  walls  of  brick,  and  they  may  be 
treated  much  in  the  same  manner. 

Rubble  walls  are  scaffolded  with  single,  and  ashlar  front- 
ed or  other  gauged  stone  walls  with  double  fronted  scaf- 
folding, the  former  tailing  one  end  of  the  putlocks  in  on 
the  wall,  and  the  other  having  an  inner  row  of  standard 
poles  and  ledgers  parallel  to  the  outer,  making  the  scaf- 
fold entirely  independent  of  the  wall.  In  some  places, 
however,  it  is  the  custom  to  dispense  altogether  with  an 
external  scaffold  in  building  stone  walls,  particularly  with 
gauged  stones.  With  light  and  plain  work  this  may  be 
done  without  much  inconvenience  or  retardation  ; but  if 
the  work  be  heavy  or  delicate,  considerable  delay  and  in- 
correctness result.  Sometimes  the  finer  work,  such  as 
that  to  mouldings,  flutes,  and  foliate  or  other  enrichments, 
is  merely  boasted  or  roughed  out  before  the  stones  are 
set,  and  finished  afterwards.  This  can  be  done  well  only 
from  a secure  floor  or  scaffold,  on  which  the  workman  may 
move  freely. 

When  walls  are  not  entirely  of  masonry,  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  economic  building,  stone  is  frequently  used  for 
copings,  cornices,  string  and  blocking  courses,  sills,  land- 
ings, pavings,  curbs,  steps,  stairs,  hearth-stones  and  slabs, 
and  chimney-pieces  ; to  these  may  be  added,  quoins  and 


architectural  decorations,  or  dressings  for  windows,  doors,  Building. 
&c.,  though  both  the  former  and  latter  are  not  * unlre- 
quently  executed  in  plaster  composition,  or  cements.  Cop- 
ings  (see  Glossary  to  the  article  Architecture)  to  cover 
walls,  parapets,  &c.,  are  worked  with  a plain  Horizontal 
bed,  two  vertical  faces,  and  an  inclined  or  weathered  back 
or  upper  surface ; either  forming  an  acute  angle  with  the 
outer  and  wider,  and  an  obtuse  angle  with  the  inner  and 
narrower  face,  to  throw  the  water  off,  as  shown  at  a , 
fig.  19 ; or  to  both  sides  from  the  middle,  as  at  b;  the  latter 
is  technically  termed  saddle-back  coping.  In  both  cases 
they  are  made  to  project  over  the  wall  or  parapet  on  both 
sides ; and  in  the  projected  part  of  the  bed  under  the  edge 
or  edges  towards  which  the  inclination  is  given,  a channel 
or  groove,  called  a throat,  is  cut,  to  intercept  the  water  in 
its  inclination  to  run  inwards  to  the  wall.  On  gables  or 
other  inclined  planes  the  coping  is  neither  weathered  nor 
throated,  as  the  water  is  necessarily  impelled  along  its 
course  to  the  lower  end,  and  not  over  the  sides.  To  pro- 
tect the  separate  stones  of  a coping  course  from  the  dan- 
ger of  being  displaced  by  high  winds  or  other  accidental 
cause,  and  to  form  a chain  through  its  whole  length,  the 
stones  are  linked  together  by  cramps  of  copper  or  iron  let 
into  their  backs  and  run  with  lead.  These  metals,  how- 
ever, especially  the  iron,  for  the  most  part  act  very  inju- 
riously, from  their  exceeding  susceptibility  of  atmospheric 
changes,  and  their  greater  or  less  tendency  to  oxidation ; 
indeed,  the  stone  invariably  suffers  more  than  the  work 
benefits  from  the  metal  cramps.  Tenons,  dowels,  joggles 
or  dovetails  of  stone,  or  of  hard  wood  or  cast  iron,  applied 
so  as  to  be  protected  from  the  weather,  would  be  far  bet- 
ter, and  would  answer  every  desirable  purpose  sufficiently. 
Cornices  (vide  ut  sup.)  are  but  ramified  copings,  and  are  or 
may  be  subjected  to  the  same  general  laws.  Care  must 
be  taken,  however,  in  arranging  them,  that  their  centre  of 
gravity  be  not  brought  too  far  forward,  in  the  anxiety  to 
project  them  sufficiently,  lest  they  act  injuriously  on  the 
wall  by  pressing  unequally,  and  their  own  safety  be  also 
endangered.  String  courses  ( vide  ut  sup.)  economically, 
in  contradistinction  to  architecturally,  are  meant  to  pro- 
tect a set-off  in  a wall,  by  projecting  over  its  lower  face  in 
the  manner  of  a coping  (see  fig.  17,  at  c)  ; the  beds  are 
worked  parallel,  and  the  outer  face  vertical  or  at  right 
angles  to  them,  but  so  much  of  the  upper  surface  is  wea- 
thered or  sloped  off  as  protrudes  from  the  upper  part  of 
the  wall  to  carry  the  water  off ; and,  for  the  reason  above 
stated  with  regard  to  copings,  the  lower  bed  just  within 
the  outer  face  is  throated.  A stone  string  course,  cramp- 
ed or  dove-tailed  as  above,  forms  an  excellent  chain  round 
a brick  wall ; but  the  part  of  it  in  the  wall  should  be  of  the 
exact  thickness  of  one,  two,  or  more  courses  of  brick.  A 
blocking  course  (vide  ut.  sup.)  is  either  a very  thick  string 
projecting  over  or  flush  with  the  face  of  the  lower  part  of 
the  wall,  or  it  is  a range  of  stone  over  a crowning  cornice 
to  bring  the  centre  of  gravity  more  in  on  the  wall  than  it 
otherwise  would  be  ; in  the  former  case  it  is  treated  exact- 
ly as  a string,  excepting  that,  if  it  be  flush  below,  there  is 
no  occasion  for  a throat ; and  in  the  latter  it  has  a hori- 
zontal bed,  parallel  vertical  sides,  and  a weathered  back 
or  upper  surface.  Sills  (vide  ut  sup.)  are  weathered  and 
throated  like  the  parts  of  a string  course  (see  fig.  17,  at 
a and  b);  they  are  laid  across  the  feet  or  bases  ot  win- 
dow openings,  &c.  to  receive  the  sash-frame,  and  carry 
the  water  off  from  the  wall  below  ; distinct  sills  in  the 
same  line  may,  indeed,  be  considered  as  an  intercepted 
string  course.  In  the  ordinary  practice  of  building,  win- 
dow sills  are  seldom  set  in  brick  walls  until  they  are  ab- 
solutely required  to  set  the  sash-frames  on  ; or  they  are  set 
but  not  bedded,  except  at  the  ends.  The  object  of  this 
is  to  prevent  any  settlement  that  may  occur  in  the  piers 


86  B U I LOIN  G. 

Building,  from  breaking  the  sills  across  on  the  unyielding  part  of  Masonry  to  receive  architectural  decorations  is  gene-  Building, 
the  wall  undei  the  windows.  A necessity  lor  this,  how-  rally  worked  into  the  walls  as  they  are  carried  up;  but  as 
ever,  can  only  arise  from  bad  construction  ; for  with  in-  they  are  seldom  homogeneous  either  in  matter  or  construc- 
ted arches  under  the  openings,  and  a good  bond  in  the  tion,  the  result  is  mostly  the  converse  of  what  it  purports 
brick-work,  all  would  settle  together,  and  the  sills  might  to  be,  for  the  work  is  more  frequently  weakened  than 
be  completely  bedded  across  at  once.  Landings  are  plat-  strengthened  by  the  decorative  masonry.  Stones  of  which 
forms  of  stone,  either  over  an  area  before  a door,  at  the  columns  are  to  be  composed,  whether  each  column  is  to 
head  ot  a flight  ot  stairs,  or  as  the  floor  of  a balcony.  They  be  of  one  stone  or  more,  are  generally  roughly  boasted  out 
are  made  four,  five,  six,  or  eight  inches  in  thickness,  ac-  before  they  are  set,  and  are  finished  afterwards  to  travers- 
coiding  to  then  extent  and  bearing;  it  not  of  one  piece  mg  moulds  and  templets  with  a plumb-rule,  whose  sides 
of  stone,  they  are  of  nicely  jointed  pieces  joggled  and  are  cut  to  the  diminution,  whatever  it  may  be.  Flutes  are 
plugged  together,  and  are  worked  on  the  face  find  edges  cut  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner.  The  beds 
just  as  their  situation  may  demand.  Stone  pavings  are  of  of  the  joints  in  columns  should  be  worked  with  the  great- 
various  kinds,  and  are  prepared,  shaped,  and  laid  in  vari-  est  precision,  that  they  may  fit  firmly  and  closely  together; 
ous  ways.  Stone  paving  that  is  not  exposed  to  the  sun  and  they  must  not,  however,  be  worked  hollow  to  make&a  close 
air,  if  next  the  ground,  should  be  laid  on  footings  of  brick  joint  externally,  or  the  arrises  will  chip  off.  It  is  consi- 
or  stone,  or  it  will  be  constantly  damp  if  the  soil  be  close  dered  a good  plan  to  put  a piece  of  thin  milled  lead  be- 
am! clayey;  but  in  yards,  open  areas,  &c.  it  may  be  laid  tween  the  beds,  cut  circular,  and  extending  to  within  a 
on  the  ground,  bedded  in  sand,  and  jointed  with  mortar  or  short  distance  of  the  surface,  and  that  the  rest  be  filled 
cement.  Stone  paved  floors  are  either  on  brick  arches,  with  a fine  adhesive  putty,  made  as  nearly  of  the  colour  of 
or  on  a timber  floor  prepared  for  the  purpose  : the  latter  the  stone  as  possible.  This  makes  a solid  bed,  and  pro- 
is  a very  bad  mode  of  supporting  paving,  as  the  impression  tects  the  arrises  effectually ; but  it  will  not  do  so  well  for 
derived  from  the  presence  of  the  latter  is,  that  the  floor  is  slight  columns,  because  it  narrows  the  bed  so  materially, 
incombustible  ; but  if  it  be  bedded  on  combustible  mate-  A joggle  or  dowel  of  hard  wood  or  cast  iron  let  into  the  core 
rial,  the  danger  to  human  life  in  the  event  of  fire  is  greater  might  be  a sufficient  counteraction,  and  it  would  certainly 
than  if  the  stone  paving  did  not  exist  at  all.  It  is  worked,  add  to  the  stability  of  a polylithic  shaft.  The  other  parts 
cut,  and  set  more  or  less  expensively,  according  to  cir-  of  a columnar  composition  may  be  sufficiently  cramped  and 
cumstances.  A curb  is  a range  or  course  of  thicker  and  joggled  together  with  wood  and  metals,  according  to  the 
stronger  stone  to  bound  a pavement,  and  is  either  flush  situation,  though  it  may  be  again  remarked,  that  neither 
with  the  paving,  showing  as  a step  on  its  outer  edge,  or  the  one  nor  the  other  should  be  used,  except  where  they  can 
raised  above  it  to  receive  a balustrade,  and  shows  on  the  be  protected  from  the  access,  even,  of  the  atmosphere, 
outer  side  as  a blocking  course  ; in  the  latter  situation  it  Stone  walling  is  generally  measured  by  the  perch  of 
is  generally  joggled  and  plugged  in  the  joints.  The  term  twenty-one  feet  superficial,  at  a standard  of  eighteen 
step  or  steps  alone  is  generally  understood  to  mean  exter-  inches  in  thickness,  or  a cubic  quantity  of  thirty-one  feet 
nal  steps,  whether  arranged  in  long  or  short  flights,  or  the  six  inches.  Sometimes  it  is  taken  by  the  rod  of  272  feet, 
single  step  in  a doorway  into  which  the  door  frame  is  te-  like  brick-work,  but  at  the  eighteen  inch  standard  instead 
noned.  A step  should  have  a plain  horizontal  bed,  and  a of  the  fourteen  inch,  or  a brick  and  a half,  as  in  the  latter 
very  slightly  weathered  tread  or  upper  surface;  the  front  species  of  walling.  The  perch,  however,  as  first  stated, 
or  riser  worked  plain  and  vertical,  or  with  a moulded  nos-  is  the  standard  of  this  country.  The  quantities  may  be 
ing,  and  the  back  sunk  with  a joggle  or  bird’s-mouth  joint  ascertained  in  the  same  manner  that  they  are  in  measur- 
to  receive  the  step  or  landing  above  or  behind  it.  Stairs  ing  brick-work,  the  number  of  inches  the  wali  is  in  thick- 
are  but  a flight  or  combination  of  steps  used  internally  ; ness  being  substituted  in  the  margin  for  the  number  of 
the  principles  upon  which  they  are  constructed  will  be  brick  lengths.  In  abstracting,  the  superficial  quantities 
found  under  the  heads  Stone-Masonry  and  Joinery,  ^may  be  taken  out  in  columns  under  the  different  thick- 
Hearths  are  the  stone  flooring  of  fire-places  ; and  a slab  is 
that  part  of  the  floor  of  a room  which  lies  immediately  be- 
fore the  fire-place  and  along  the  extent  of  its  front.  This 
slab  is  supported  by  a flat  brick  arch  called  a brick  trim- 
mer, which  is  turned  from  the  chimney-breast  under  the 
hearth  on  one  side,  to  the  trimmer  joist  on  the  other. 

(See  a section  of  all  these  at  fig.  18.)  Chimney-pieces 
consist  simply  of  mantle  and  jambs  ; that  is,  the  vertical 
sides,  and  the  architrave  or  transverse  covering  with  its 
shelf  or  cornice.  The  parts  of  a chimney-piece  are  gene- 
rally put  together  with  an  adhesive  plaster  or  cement,  and 
affixed  to  the  wall  or  chimney-breast  behind  with  cramps, 
hold-fasts,  and  plugs.  The  material  of  which  chimney- 
pieces  are  composed  varies  from  the  coarsest  stone  to  the 
finest  marble ; and  the  labour  on  them  varies  to  a still  great- 
er extent.  Quoin-stones  are  gauged  and  wrought  blocks 
with  parallel  beds  and  vertical  faces,  placed  on  the  angles 
of  buildings  with  the  intention  of  adding  to  their  beauty 
and  strength  ; they  are  used  either  with  brick  or  stone 
walls,  and  are  generally  made  to  project  before  the  face 
of  that  to  which  they  are  attached,  mostly  with  a weather- 
ed angular  joint,  or  with  a rectangularly  grooved  or  mould- 
ed one.  The  quoins  are  coursed  with  the  rest  of  the 
wall  if  it  be  of  stone,  and  are  made  to  occupy  the  exact 
space  of  a limited  number  of  courses  of  brick  in  a brick 
wall.  (See  fig.  17.) 


nesses;  the  amount  of  each  column  being  multiplied  by 
the  thickness  in  inches,  and  divided  by  eighteen,  gives 
the  reduced  quantity;  but  if  the  work  be  taken  in  cubic 
quantities,  it  is  evident  that  the  three  dimensions  of  every 
part  multiplied  together  brings  the  whole  at  once  to  cubic 
feet,  and  no  further  process  is  necessary,  unless  it  be  re- 
quired to  bring  the  total  quantity  into  reduced  perches, 
which  may  be  done  by  dividing  it  by  thirty-one  and  a 
half. 

The  custom  being  different  in  different  places  with  re- 
gard to  the  double  measurement  of  quoins  or  angle  piers, 
and  as  to  whether  openings,  such  as  windows  and  doors, 
shall  or  shall  not  be  deducted,  because  of  the  greater 
care  and  trouble  required  in  setting  and  plumbing  quoins 
and  reveals,  these  particulars  should  be  made  matter  of 
previous  agreement.  Perhaps  the  best  w;ay  is  to  take  the 
quantities  exact!}?,  and  allow  a running  measurement  extra 
on  the  parts  requiring  more  than  the  usual  quantity  of 
labour,  or,  the  nature  of  the  work  being  of  course  obvious 
beforehand,  the  price  per  perch,  per  rod,  or  per  toot 
cube,  on  the  exact  quantity,  may  be  made  to  include  the 
proposed  extras.  In  the  same  manner,  chisel-dressing 
(that  is,  facing  the  stones  neatly  and  truly  with  the  chi- 
sel), whether  plain  or  sunk,  may  or  may  not  be  charged 
extra,  according  to  agreement,  or,  in  the  absence  of  a 
previous  agreement,  to  the  custom  of  the  place.  To 


BUILDING. 


87 


Building,  ascertain  the  value  of  stone  walling,  the  cost  of  every 
' thing  that  enters  into  some  fixed  quantity  on  the  spot 
must  be  calculated,  for  almost  every  thing  connected  with 
it  varies  in  almost  every  place.  The  original  price  of  the 
stone  at  the  quarry ; the  expense  of  carrying  it  from  thence 
to  the  place  where  it  is  to  be  worked  up ; its  texture  or 
comparative  hardness,  which  will  materiallyaffect  the  quan- 
tity of  walling  a mason  may  execute  in  a certain  time  ; the 
cost  on  the  spot,  of  lime  and  sand,  and  the  height  to  which 
stones  must  be  carried  or  hoisted  from  the  ground ; must 
all  be  ascertained  and  considered,  as  well  as  the  wages  of 
masons  and  labourers,  and  the  sort  of  walling  proposed  to 
be  executed. 

Stone  used  in  string  and  blocking  courses,  sills,  copings, 
cornices,  steps,  quoins,  columns,  entablatures,  &c.  is  mea- 
sured by  the  foot  cube,  and  the  work  on  it  is  taken  as  plain, 
sunk,  or  moulded,  by  the  foot  superficial.  The  dimensions 
for  the  cubic  quantities  are  taken  on  the  unreduced  block, 
or  rather  on  the  greatest  breadth  and  thickness  which  the 
finished  work  exhibits ; for  instance,  the  string  course, 
which  appears  in  section  at  c,  fig.  17,  would  be  taken  as  of 
the  thickness  throughout  which  it  holds  in  the  wall ; and 
in  the  same  manner,  the  thickness  of  the  sill  at  b would 
be  taken  under  the  wooden  sill  of  the  sash  frame,  which 
must  have  been  the  original  thickness  of  the  whole  scant- 
ling. Stone  sawed  into  thin  slabs  for  paving,  chimney 
pieces,  &c.  is  taken  by  the  superficial  foot,  at  a certain 
thickness,  the  value  being  ascertained  from  the  cubic 
quantity  and  the  cost  of  sawing  on  the  surface,  whilst 
some  articles,  being  of  a fixed  breadth  and  thickness  fit- 
ting them  to  peculiar  purposes,  are  taken  by  the  running 
foot ; but  both  these  latter  modes  suppose  labour  included. 

Plain  work  is  the  even  surface  produced  on  stone  by 
the  chisel,  without  the  necessity  of  taking  away  more 
than  the  mere  inequalities,  and  is  equivalent  to  what  the 
joiner  calls  trying-up,  that  is,  making  the  surfaces  per- 
fectly straight  both  longitudinally  and  transversely,  and 
so  that  it  shall  be  quite  out  of  winding,  which  indeed  is  a 
term  to  express  the  result  of  trying-up.  Sunk  work  arises 
from  the  necessity  of  chiseling  or  hacking  away  below 
the  level  surface  of  the  plain  work,  such  as  the  weather- 
ing of  copings,  string  courses,  cornices,  &c. ; and  mould- 
ings cut  in  stone  produce  what  is  called  moulded  work. 
Sunk  and  moulded  work  are  either  straight  or  circular; 
circular  plain  work  is  certainly  spoken  of,  but  incorrectly, 
for  every  flexure  in  stone  must  be  produced  by  sinking. 
The  joints  and  beds,  that  is,  the  upper  and  lower  hori- 
zontal sides,  and  the  vertical  ends  of  stones,  are  taken  as 
plain  work,  as  well  as  their  faces  and  edges,  if  they  have 
been  wrought  with  the  chisel  to  produce  the  surface ; or 
their  superficies  are  taken  as  sawing  or  half  plain  work, 
if  the  surfaces  are  as  the  saw  left  them.  An  extra  charge 
is  made  on  plain  work  for  rubbing  to  produce  a smooth 
unchannelled  surface ; and  again,  a higher  charge  is  made 
for  plain  work  if  it  be  equally  channelled  or  furrowed  in 
vertical  lines  over  the  surface ; this  latter  operation  is 
technically  termed  tooling.  Whenever  any  two  surfaces 
meet  in  an  oblique  angle,  one  of  them  may  be  taken  as 
sunk  work,  and  it  will  generally  be  that  which  is  not 
parallel  to  its  opposite  side.  It  is  valued  at  about  two 
sevenths  more  than  plain  work;  and  circular  sunk  work, 
that  is,  circular  in  the  direction  of  its  length,  at  about 
one  sixth  more  than  straight  sunk.  Moulded  work  is 
measured  by  girding  the  moulding  or  mouldings  with  a 
cord  or  tape,  carrying  it  into  all  the  quirks,  and  round  all 
the  arrises ; the  dimension  thus  given  is  multiplied  by 
the  length  for  the  superficial  quantity.  This  is  valued  at 
about  one  fifth  more  than  sunk  work,  and  circular  mould- 
ed at  about  one  half  more  than  straight.  Narrow  joint- 
ings,  groovings,  throatings,  jogglings,  &c.  arc  taken  by  the 


foot  run.  Mortises,  holes,  notches,  cramps,  dovetails,  &c.  Building, 
are  numbered  and  charged  at  so  much  a piece,  according 
to  the  labour  and  cost  involved  in  making  them.  The 
common  pavings,  landings,  copings,  sills,  and  steps  gene- 
rally used  in  London  for  ordinary  purposes,  are  of  a lami- 
nated stone  from  Yorkshire,  and  they  are  for  the  most 
part  worked  to  size  and  shape  in  the  quarry,  so  that  there 
can  be  very  little  labour  on  them  beyond  the  mere  fitting 
and  setting,  making  mortises,  fitting  coal-plates,  traps,  &c. 
when  such  are  required,  unless  they  be  rubbed,  which 
occasions,  of  course,  an  extra  charge.  York  pavings  and 
landings  are  taken  by  the  superficial  foot,  at  such  a thick- 
ness ; and  copings,  sills,  steps,  &c.  by  the  foot  run,  accord- 
ing to  their  size. 

Plasterer,  Sfc. — No  art  in  the  economy  of  building  con- 
tributes more  to  produce  internal  neatness  and  elegance, 
and  no  one  is  less  absolutely  important,  as  far  as  the  use 
and  stability  of  a structure  are  concerned,  than  that  of  the 
plasterer.  Its  very  general  application,  too,  is  of  compa- 
ratively late  date ; for  wainscotted  walls,  and  boarded  or 
boarded  and  canvassed  ceilings,  or  naked  joists  alone,  are 
frequently  found  in  houses  of  even  less  than  a century  old, 
both  in  this  country  and  on  the  Continent. 

The  plasterer,  as  the  term  imports,  works  in  plastic, 
adhesive  compositions,  which  are  laid  on  walls,  both  in- 
ternally and  externally,  to  stop  crevices,  reduce  inequali- 
ties, and  produce  an  even,  delicate  surface,  capable  of 
receiving  any  decoration  that  may  be  applied  to  it,  either 
iti  colour  or  otherwise.  These  compositions  are  as  vari- 
ous as  the  modes  of  applying  them,  the  rudest  being  a 
compost  of  loam,  a marly  clay,  and  lime ; this  is  used 
only  for  the  commonest  purposes,  and  being  laid  on  in 
one  coat,  is  washed  over  with  a thin  mixture  of  lime  and 
water,  which  process  is  termed  white-washing ; the  high- 
est work  of  the  plasterer  is  the  making  an  imitation  of 
marbles  and  other  costly  stones,  of  the  purest  calcined 
gypsum,  mixed  with  a solution  of  gum  and  isinglass,  and 
colouring  matter  to  produce  the  required  imitation.  For 
the  more  common  operations  of  plastering,  however,  com- 
paratively few  tools  and  few  materials  are  required.  The 
plasterer  is  attended  by  a labourer,  who  supplies  his 
boards  with  mortar,  and  by  a boy  on  the  scaffold  with 
him  to  feed  his  hawk ; he  is  necessarily  furnished  with  a 
lathing  hammer,  a laying-on  trowel,  a hawk,  floats,  brushes, 
jointing  trowels  and  rules,  moulds  and  straight  edges, 
together  with  a screen,  spade,  rake,  and  hod,  for  his  la- 
bourer, and  a feeding-spade  or  server  for  his  hawk-boy. 

The  lathing  hammer  is  chequered  on  the  face  with  indent- 
ed lines,  to  make  it  less  liable  to  slip  over  the  head  of  the 
nail ; the  upper  or  back  part  of  the  hammer  is  made  like 
a hatchet,  but  very  narrow,  and  on  its  inner  side  or  edge 
there  is  sometimes  a square  nick  or  groove,  by  means  of 
which  the  workman  is  enabled  to  draw  a nail  that  has  gone 
awry.  The  laying-on  trowel  is  a thin  plate  of  hardened 
iron  or  steel,  ten  inches  long  and  two  and  a half  inches  wide, 
rounded  at  one  end  and  square  at  the  other  end  or  heel ; 
it  is  very  slightly  convex  on  the  face ; and  to  the  back, 
about  the  middle  of  it,  the  spindle  or  handle  is  rivetted 
in  at  right  angles,  which,  returning  in  the  direction  of  the 
heel  parallel  to  the  tool,  fits  into  a rounded  wooden  handle, 
by  which  the  workman  grasps  it.  The  plasterer  is  obliged 
to  keep  this  implement  particularly  clean  and  dry  when 
he  is  not  actually  using  it,  lest  it  rust  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree, as  it  is  clear  that  the  brown  oxide  of  iron  would 
sadly  discolour  his  finer  work  on  touching  it  again  with  the 
trowel.  The  hawk  is  a piece  of  wood  about  ten  inches 
square,  to  receive  a small  portion  of  mortar  on,  for  the 
convenience  of  carrying  it  readily  up  to  the  wall  or  ceil- 
ing, to  be  there  delivered  and  spread  by  the  trowel.  The 
hawk  is  traversed  across  the  back  by  a dove-tailed  piece. 


88  B U I L 

Building-  into  which  the  wooden  handle  is  fixed  at  right  angles, 
and  by  this  the  workman  holds  it  in  his  left  hand.  A 
hand-float  is  a piece  of  board  shaped  something  like  a 
plastering  trowel,  with  a ledge-handle  to  it,  and  is  used 
to  rub  over  the  finished  work,  to  produce  a hard,  smooth, 
and  even  face.  A quirk-float  is  of  wood  also,  and  is  an- 
gularly shaped  to  work  in  angles ; and  a derby  is  a long 
two-handed  float,  which  is  that  principally  used  in  form- 
ing the  floated  coat  of  lime  and  hair.  The  plasterer’s 
brush  is  broad  and  thin,  with  a stout  or  slight  row  of 
coarse  or  fine  hair,  as  it  may  be  required  for  rough  or 
fine  work.  Jointing  trowels  are  thin  plates  of  polished 
steel,  of  triangular  shape,  the  point  being  a very  acute 
angle ; the  handle  is  adapted  to  the  heel  or  base  of  the 
tool.  They  are  of  three  or  four  different  sizes,  and  are 
principally  used  in  making  good  cornices,  and  joining 
them  at  their  internal  and  external  angles,  which  is  called 
mitering.  Jointing  rules  are  auxiliary  to  the  jointing 
trowel.  Moulds  are  pieces  of  hard  wood  cut  to  the  con- 
tour of  cornices  or  separate  mouldings,  to  assist  the  work- 
men in  forming  them  readily.  For  work  of  any  importance 
the  moulds  are  cut  in  copper  plates,  which  are  inserted 
in  the  wooden  stock,  and  narrow  pieces  of  wood  are  fixed 
to  the  moulds  transversely,  to  guide  and  steady  them 
along  the  screeds.  A straight  edge  is  a board  of  consi- 
derable length,  shot  perfectly  straight  on  one  edge,  to 
bring  the  plastering  on  a wall  or  ceiling  to  a perfectly 
even  surface,  by  traversing  it  in  every  direction.  A screen 
is  a large  parallelogramic  wooden  frame,  on  which  metal 
wires  are  fixed  at  regulated  distances  from  each  other, 
to  act  as  a sieve.  This  is  propped  up  in  nearly  a vertical 
direction  by  a counter-frame  hinged  to  it  like  a common 
step  ladder,  and  the  coarser  materials  which  enter  into  the 
composition  of  plastering  mortar  are  thrown  against  its 
outer  face,  to  separate  the  particles  which  are  too  large  for 
the  purpose  from  the  finer.  The  sand  and  lime,  too,  are 
mixed  much  more  efficiently  and  completely  by  screening 
them  together  than  in  any  other  manner.  The  spade  and 
hod  are  like  those  of  the  bricklayer’s  labourer.  The  rake 
is  used  to  separate  the  hair  used  in  the  mortar,  and  distri- 
bute it  throughout  the  mass.  The  hawk  boy’s  server  is 
about  the  size  and  shape  of  a common  garden  hoe,  but  the 
handle  is  in  the  direction  of  the  instrument.  With  it  the 
boy  rebeats  the  mortar  on  the  board,  to  destroy  any  set  it 
may  have  taken,  and  delivers  it  in  small  pats  or  portions 
on  to  the  plasterer’s  hawk. 

The  plasterer’s  materials  are  laths  and  lath  nails,  lime, 
sand,  hair  and  plaster,  of  which  are  formed  coarse  stuff 
or  lime  and  hair,  fine  stuff,  gauge  stuff,  &c. ; and  besides 
these,  a variety  of  stuccoes  and  cements,  together  with  va- 
rious ingredients  to  form  colouring  washes,  &c.  are  more 
or  less  in  request. 

Laths  are  narrow  strips  of  some  straight  grained  wood 
(in  this  country  they  are  generally  of  fir,  though  oak  laths 
are  sometimes  used),  in  lengths  of  three  and  four  feet,  or 
to  suit  the  distances  at  which  the  joists  or  quarterings 
are  set,  and  in  thickness  a quarter  and  three  eighths  of 
an  inch ; those  of  the  former  thickness  are  called  single, 
and  those  of  the  latter  lath  and  a half.  Lath  nails  are 
either  wrought,  cut,  or  cast,  and  of  course  vary  in  length  to 
the  thicker  and  thinner  laths  ; cast  nails  are  in  common  use 
in  this  country  with  fir  laths.  Coarse  stuff  is  composed 
of  ox  or  horse  hair  from  the  hide,  in  addition  to  the  lime 
and  sand  mortar  of  the  bricklayer  and  mason  ; this  is  in- 
tended to  act  as  a sort  of  bond  to  net  or  tie  it  together, 
by  being  distributed  throughout  the  whole  mass,  and  in 
single  hairs  if  it  were  possible.  The  hair  should  be  as  long 
as  it  can  be  procured,  and  free  from  grease  and  filth  of 
every  kind.  Road  drift  is  unfit  to  be  used  for  mortar,  un- 
less it  be  completely  cleansed  from  all  animal  and  vegetable 


DING. 

matter,  and  of  all  mud  and  clay.  Loamy  or  argillaceous  Building 
earths  are  constantly  used  in  the  composition  of  this  mor- 
tar,  as  its  quality  is  thought  unimportant,  so  that  it  can 
be  made  to  hang  together.  The  presence  of  clayey  matter 
making  the  mortar  unctuous  and  tenacious,  they  are  used 
without  or  with  very  little  hair;  the  consequence  is,  that 
the  slightest  injury  affects  the  work  made  with  them. 

The  mortar  thus  composed  readily  absorbs  and  retains 
moisture,  bursts,  and  crumbles  away ; and  if  it  be  effec- 
tually protected  from  injury  of  that  kind,  it  becomes  rot- 
ten in  a comparatively  short  space  of  time,  and  frequently 
is  the  means  of  decay  in  the  laths,  and  even  in  the  larger 
timbers.  Nothing  but  clean  sharp  sand  should  be  used 
with  the  lime  and  hair  in  the  composition  of  this,  any 
more  than  of  brick  mortar.  Fine  stuff  is  a mortar  made 
of  fine  white  lime,  exceedingly  well  slaked  with  water, 
or  rather  macerated  in  water  to  make  the  slaking  com- 
plete ; for  some  purposes  a small  quantity  of  hair  is  mixed 
up  with  this  material.  Fine  stuff  very  carefully  prepared 
of  the  finest  powdered  lime  macerated  so  completely  as 
to  be  held  in  solution  by  the  water,  thus  forming  a mere 
paste,  which  is  then  allowed  to  evaporate  until  it  is  of  a 
sufficient  consistence  for  working,  is  called  putty.  Gauge 
stuff  is  composed  of  about  three  fourths  of  putty  and  one 
fourth  of  calcined  gypsum  or  plaster  of  Paris ; this  may 
be  mixed  only  in  small  quantities  at  a time,  as  the  plaster 
or  gauge  renders  it  liable  to  set  very  rapidly.  Bastard 
stucco  is  made  of  two  thirds  fine  stuff,  without  hair,  and 
one  third  of  very  fine  and  perfectly  clean  sand  (the  clean- 
liness or  purity  of  sand  may  be  determined  by  the  facility 
with  which  it  may,  when  in  a moist  state,  be  struck  off 
from  the  hand  without  leaving  a soil)  ; and  common  stucco 
is  composed  of  about  three  fourths  of  clean  sharp  sand 
and  one  fourth  of  the  best  lime,  well  incorporated.  This 
must  be  protected  from  the  air  from  the  time  it  is  made 
until  it  is  required  to  be  laid  oh  the  walls.  The  cement 
best  known  and  most  commonly  used  in  this  country  is 
called  Parker’s,  or  Parker’s  Roman  cement.  This  mate- 
rial, when  of  good  quality,  with  fine  clean  sharp  sand,  in 
the  proportion  of  about  three  of  the  former  to  one  of 
cement,  and  well  executed,  forms  an  admirable  external 
coating  for  walls,  and  is  generally  preferable  to  any  other 
with  which  we  are  acquainted. 

The  various  coatings  of  plastering  are  thus  designated  : 

On  laths,  plastering  in  one  coat  simply  is  said  to  be  laid, 
and  in  two  coats,  laid  and  set.  In  three-coat  plastering  on 
laths,  however,  the  first  is  called  the  pricking  up,  the  se- 
cond is  said  to  be  floated,  and  the  third  set.  On  brick  or 
stone  walls,  without  the  intervention  of  laths,  plastering 
in  one  plain  coat  is  termed  rendering;  with  two  coats,  a 
vrall  is  said  to  be  rendered  and  set;  and  in  three,  render- 
ed, floated,  and  set.  Before  the  plasterer  begins  to  lath  a 
ceiling,  he  proves  the  under  face  of  the  joists,  to  which  he 
has  to  work,  by  the  application  of  a long  straight  edge, 
and  makes  out  any  slight  inequalities  in  them,  when  the 
work  is  not  to  be  of  a very  superior  description,  by  nailing 
on  laths  or  slips  to  bring  them  as  nearly  even  as  he  can. 

When  the  inequalities  are  great,  or  if  the  work  is  to  be 
of  fine  quality,  he  recurs  to  the  carpenter,  who  takes  off 
inordinate  projections  with  his  adze,  and  nails  on  proper- 
ly dressed  slips  where  the  joists  do  not  come  down  low 
enough,  and  thus  brings  the  whole  to  a perfect  level.  This 
operation  is  called  firring,  that  is,  putting  on  pieces  of  fir, 
though  it  is  vulgarly  termed  and  frequently  spelt  furring. 

If  it  be  a framed  floor  of  ceiling  joists  the  plasterer  has  to 
work  to,  it  is  tolerably  sure  to  be  straight;  but  the  car- 
penter must  have  firred  down  on  the  beams  or  binders  to 
the  level  of  the  ceiling  joists,  from  end  to  end  of  them. 

When  the  ceiling  joists  are  nailed  to  the  beams  or  binders, 
however,  nothing  of  this  kind  need  be  necessary.  If  a 


BUIL 

Building,  ceiling  is  to  be  divided  into  compartments  or  panels,  the 
V'-'  projecting  or  depending  portions  must  be  bracketed  or 
cradled  down  to  receive  the  laths.  It  is  an  important 
point  to  be  attended  to  in  plastering  on  laths,  and  in  ceil- 
ings particularly,  that  the  laths  should  be  attached  to  as 
small  a surface  of  timber  as  possible,  because  the  plaster- 
ing is  not  supported  or  upborne  by  its  adhesion  or  attach- 
ment to  the  wood,  but  by  the  keying  of  the  mortar  itself, 
which  passes  through  between  the  laths,  and  bends  round 
over  them.  If  then  the  laths  are  in  constantly  recurring 
contact  with  thick  joists  and  beams,  the  keying  is  as  con- 
stantly intercepted,  and  the  plastering  in  all  such  places 
depends  entirely  on  the  portions  between  them  which  are 
properly  keyed.  Under  a single  floor,  therefore,  in  which 
the  joists  are  necessarily  thick,  a narrow  fillet  should  be 
nailed  along  the  middle  under  the  whole  length  of  them 
all,  to  receive  the  laths  and  keep  them  at  a sufficient  dis- 
tance from  the  timber,  to  allow  the  plastering  to  key  un- 
der it;  and  thus  too  the  surface  might  be  made  more  per- 
fectly even,  by  blocking  out  the  fillets,  and  contrariwise, 
as  it  is  in  single  floors  that  inequalities  mostly  occur. 
This  being  all  arranged,  the  plasterer  commences  lathing. 
The  laths  should  be  previously  sorted,  reserving  the  crook- 
ed and  knotty,  if  there  be  such,  for  inferior  works,  and  se- 
lecting the  best  for  the  work  of  most  importance,  so  that 
the  workman  shall  find  none  to  his  hand  that  is  not  fit  to 
be  brought  in.  Taking  a lath  that  will  reach  across  three 
or  four  openings,  he  strikes  a nail  into  it  on  one  of  the  in- 
termediate joists,  at  about  three  eighths  of  an  inch  from 
the  one  before  it,  and  then  secures  the  ends  of  that  and 
the  one  that  it  meets  of  the  last  row  with  one  nail,  leav- 
ing the  other  end  of  the  lath  he  has  just  set  to  be  secured 
in  the  same  manner  with  that  which  shall  meet  it  of  the 
next’  bay  in  continuation.  It  is  of  importance  also  that  he 
pay  attention  to  the  bonding  of  his  work,  either  by  using 
longer  and  shorter  laths  in  bays  or  squares,  and  in  break- 
ing the  headings,  or  with  laths  of  the  same  length,  the  first 
and  last  courses  or  bays  only  having  the  bond  formed  by 
half  laths.  In  lathing  on  quartering  partitions  and  battened 
walls,  the  bonding  is  not  a matter  of  much  importance ; 
nor  is  the  thickness  of  the  timbers  behind  the  latter  of  so 
much  consequence  as  in  a ceiling,  because  the  toothing 
which  the  thickness  of  the  lath  itself  affords  to  the  plaster- 
ing is  enough  to  support  it  vertically ; but,  nevertheless, 
the  more  complete  the  keying,  even  in  works  of  this  kind, 
the  better,  as  the  toothing  above  will  not  protect  it  from 
any  exciting  cause  to  fall  forwards,  or  away  from  the  laths. 
The  thinner  or  weaker  sort  of  lath  too  is  generally  consi- 
dered sufficiently  strong  for  partitions,  whilst  the  stronger 
is  used  for  ceilings.  Thin  weak  laths,  if  used  in  a ceiling, 
are  sure  to  produce  inequalities,  by  sagging  with  or  yield- 
ing to  the  weight  attached  to  them.  A chance  one  or 
two  weak  ones  in  a ceiling  of  otherwise  strong  laths  may 
, be  the  ruin  of  the  best  piece  of  work.  Care  should  be 
taken  therefore  not  to  allow  a thin  lath,  or  one  of  unequal 
thickness,  to  go  on  to  a scaffold  with  thicker  and  more 
equable  ones,  lest  the  workman  should,  through  careless- 
ness or  otherwise,  put  it  up  with  the  rest.  When  the  lath- 
ing is  completed,  the  work  is  either  laid  or  pricked  up,  ac- 
cording as  it  is  to  be  finished  with  one,  two,  or  three  coats. 
Laying  is  a tolerably  thick  coat  of  coarse  stuff  or  lime  and 
hair  brought  to  a tolerably  even  surface  with  the  trowel 
only ; for  this  the  mortar  must  be  well  tempered,  and  of 
moderate  consistence, — thin  or  moist  enough  to  pass  rea- 
dily through  between  the  laths,  and  bend  with  its  own 
weight  over  them,  and  at  the  same  time  stiff  enough  to 
leave  no  danger  that  it  will  fall  apart,  a contingency, 
however,  that  in  practice  frequently  occurs  in  consequence 
of  badly  composed  or  badly  tempered  mortar,  or  bad  work- 
manship, sufficient  force  not  having  been  used  with  pro- 


D I N G.  89 

perly  consistent  mortar  to  force  it  through  and  form  keys.  Building. 
If  the  work  is  to  be  of  two  coats,  that  is,  laid  and  set, 
when  the  laying  is  sufficiently  dry,  it  is  roughly  swept  with 
a birch  broom  to  roughen  its  surface,  and  then  the  set,  a 
thin  coat  of  fine  stuff,  is  put  on.  This  is  done  with  the 
common  trowel  alone,  or  only  assisted  by  a wetted  hog’s 
bristle  brush,  which  the  workman  uses  with  his  left  hand 
to  strike  over  the  surface  of  the  set,  while  he  presses  and 
smooths  it  with  the  trowel  in  his  right.  If  the  laid  work 
should  have  become  very  dry,  it  must  be  slightly  moisten- 
ed before  the  set  is  put  on,  or  the  latter,  in  shrinking, 
will  crack  and  fall  away.  This  is  generally  done  by 
sprinkling  or  throwing  the  water  over  the  surface  from 
the  brush.  For  floated  or  three-coat  work,  the  first,  or 
pricking  up,  is  roughly  laid  on  the  laths,  the  principal 
object  being  to  make  the  keying  complete,  and  form  a 
layer  of  mortar  on  the  laths  to  which  the  next  coat  may  at- 
tach itself.  It  must,  of  course,  be  kept  of  tolerably  equal 
thickness  throughout,  and  should  stand  about  one  quar- 
ter or  three  eighths  of  an  inch  on  the  surface  of  the 
laths.  When  it  is  finished,  and  while  the  mortar  is  still 
quite  moist,  the  plasterer  scratches  or  scores  it  all  over 
with  the  end  of  a lath  in  parallel  lines  from  three  to 
four  inches  apart.  The  scorings  should  be  made  as 
deep  as  possible  without  laying  bare  the  laths ; and  the 
rougher  their  edges  are  the  better,  as  the  object  is  to 
produce  a surface  which  the  next  coat  will  readily  attach 
itself  to.  When  the  pricked  up  coat  is  so  dry  as  not 
to  yield  to  pressure  in  the  slightest  degree,  prepara- 
tions may  be  made  for  the  floating.  Ledges  or  margins 
of  lime  and  hair,  about  six  or  eight  inches  in  width, 
and  extending  across  the  whole  breadth  of  a ceiling 
or  height  of  a wall  or  partition,  must  be  made  in  the 
angles  or  at  the  borders,  and  at  distances  of  about  four 
feet  apart  throughout  the  whole  extent;  these  must  be 
made  perfectly  straight  with  one  another,  and  be  proved 
in  every  way  by  the  application  of  straight  edges:  tech- 
nically these  ledges  are  termed  screeds.  The  screeds  are 
gauges  for  the  rest  of  the  work ; for  when  they  are  ready, 
and  the  mortar  in  them  is  a little  set,  the  interspaces  are 
filled  up  flush  with  them ; and  a derby  float  or  long  straight 
edge  being  made  to  traverse  the  screeds,  all  the  stuff  that 
projects  beyond  the  line  is  struck  off,  and  thus  the  whole 
is  brought  to  a straight  and  perfectly  even  surface.  To 
perfect  the  work,  the  screeds  on  ceilings  should  be  le- 
velled, and  on  walls  and  partitions  plumbed.  When  the 
floating  is  sufficiently  set  and  nearly  dry,  it  is  brushed 
with  a birch  broom  as  before  described,  and  the  third 
coat  or  set  is  put  on.  This  for  a fine  ceiling  that  is  to  be 
whitened  or  coloured  must  be  of  putty  ; but  if  it  is  to  be 
papered,  ordinary  fine  stuff  with  a little  hair  in  it,  will  be 
better.  Walls  and  partitions  that  are  to  be  papered  are 
also  of  this  latter,  or  of  rough  stucco ; but  for  paint  the  set 
must  be  of  bastard  stucco  trowelled.  This  coat  must  be 
worked  of  exactly  the  same  thickness  throughout,  to  pre- 
serve to  the  external  surface  the  advantage  that  has  been 
obtained  by  floating.  For  all  but  this  last  mentioned,  the 
set  on  floated  work,  the  trowel  and  brush  are  considered 
sufficient  to  produce  fine  and  even  work ; but  trowelled 
stucco  must  moreover  be  hand-floated.  In  this  operation 
the  stucco  is  set  with  the  trowel  in  the  usual  manner,  and 
brought  to  an  even  surface  with  that  tool  to  the  extent  of 
two  or  three  yards.  The  workman  then  takes  the  hand- 
float  in  his  right  hand,  and  rubs  it  smartly  over  the  sur- 
face, pressing  gently  to  condense  the  material  as  much  as 
possible.  As  he  works  the  float  he  sprinkles  the  surface 
with  water  from  the  brush  in  his  left  hand,  and  eventually 
produces  a texture  as  fine  and  smooth  almost  as  that  of 
polished  marble.  The  process  of  plastering  on  the  naked 
brick  or  stone  wall  differs  but  little,  except  in  names,  from 


90  B U I L 

Building,  that  we  have  described  as  the  mode  on  lath.  The  single 

'‘“'T'"**''  coat,  or  equivalent  for  laying,  on  lath,  is  rendering,  and  it 
need  differ  only  in  the  quantity  of  hair,  which  may  be  less 
than  is  necessary  for  laying,  and  in  the  consistence  of  the 
mortar,  which  may  be  made  more  plastic,  to  work  easier, 
and  because  in  a moister  state  it  will  attach  itself  more 
firmly  to  the  wall : the  wall,  however,  must  itself  be  wet- 
ted before  the  rendering  is  applied.  The  set  is  the  same, 
and  is  put  on  in  the  same  manner  as  tp  two-coat  work  on 
lath.  For  three  coat,  or  floated  work,  the  first  or  rough 
rendering  should  be  made  to  fill  up  completely  whatever 
crevices  there  may  be  in  the  work  behind  it,  and  be  incor- 
porated with  it  as  much  as  possible.  As  its  name  imports, 
its  surface  may,  indeed  should,  be  rough;  but  it  is  not 
scratched  or  lined  as  the  similar  coat  on  lath  is : for  this, 
too,  the  wall  must  be  previously  wetted,  that  the  mortar 
may  the  better  attach  itself  to  it.  For  the  floating,  screeds 
must  be  formed  as  before  described,  and  the  consecutive 
process  is  exactly  the  same  as  on  lath,  both  for  the  floated 
and  for  the  set  coat.  In  almost  every  case  in  which  plas- 
tering is  to  be  floated,  the  workman  finds  a guide  for  the 
feet  of  his  wall  screeds  in  the  narrow  grounds  which  the 
joiner  has  previously  fixed  for  his  skirtings ; from  these 
he  plumbs  upwards,  and  makes  his  work  perfectly  flush 
with  them. 

Mouldings  and  cornices,  as  large  combinations  of  mould- 
ings and  flat  surfaces  are  called,  in  the  angles  of  rooms, 
immediately  under  their  ceilings,  are  formed  with  running 
moulds,  and  are  generally  executed  before  the  setting 
coat  is  put  on  the  walls  and  ceiling.  If  the  cornice  do 
not  project  more  than  about  an  inch  and  a half,  or  two 
inches,  from  the  ordinary  work,  a backing  of  lime  and  hair 
will  be  sufficient ; and  if  any  one  part  only  happen  to  be 
more  than  ordinarily  protuberant,  a row  of  nails  from  six 
to  twelve  inches  apart  stuck  into  the  wall  or  ceiling  in  the 
line  of  that  part  will  give  it  sufficient  support.  But  if  the 
general  mass  of  the  cornice  be  more  than  that  amounts 
to,  and  extend  above  six  or  eight  inches  along  the  ceil- 
ing, it  must  be  bracketed  out,  and  the  bracketing  lathed 
and  pricked  up,  as  for  ordinary  work.  This  pricking  up, 
or  other  preparation,  must  of  course  be  perfectly  set  be- 
fore the  cornice  is  run  ; and  there  should  be  one  fourth  of 
an  inch  at  least  of  clear  space  between  the  preparation  and 
the  mould  in  the  nearest  part.  A wooden  screed  or  pa- 
rallel straight  edge  is  tacked  with  brads  on  to  the  wall, 
and  another  on  the  ceiling,  if  the  cornice  be  large  and 
heavy,  as  guides  or  gauges  for  the  mould,  whose  rests  are 
chased  to  fit  them ; and  then  one  man  laying  on  gauge 
stuff  in  an  almost  fluid  state  with  an  angular  trowel,  ano- 
ther works  the  mould  backwards  and  forwards  over  it, 
which  strikes  off  what  is  superfluous,  and  gives  the  in- 
verse of  its  form  to  the  rest.  The  mould  is  never  taken 
down  from  the  work  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  it, 
but  is  drawn  off  at  the  end,  so  that  none  of  the  parts 
of  the  moulding  or  cornice  is  injured  or  torn  by  it,  which 
must  otherwise  frequently  be  the  case,  from  the  peculiar 
forms  at  times  given  to  the  details.  If  a cornice  be  too 
large  and  heavy  to  be  executed  at  once,  it  may  be  done 
in  the  same  manner  at  two  or  more  times,  in  so  many 
parts ; and  if  any  part  or  parts  of  a moulding  or  cornice 
is  to  be  enriched,  the  space  for  it  is  left  vacant  by  the 
mould,  and  the  enrichment  is  afterwards  supplied.  As  a 
cornice  cannot  be  completed  up  to  the  angles  by  the 
mould,  it  is  worked  by  hand  in  those  situations  to  a joint. 
The  joinings  are  termed  mitres,  and  in  forming  them  the 
plasterer  uses  the  jointing  tools  we  have  already  described. 
Models  for  enrichments  are  made  by  the  modeller,  accord- 
ing to  the  design  or  drawing  submitted  to  him,  and  from 
them  the  plasterer  makes  wax  moulds,  or,  as  in  ordinary 
practice,  the  modeller  supplies  the  moulds  in  which  the 


DING. 

ornament  is  cast  in  plaster  of  Paris.  If  the  ornament  be  Building, 
in  recurring  lengths  or  parts,  as  is  usually  the  case,  only 
one  length  or  part  is  modelled,  and  casts  of  as  many  as 
are  required  are  taken  from  the  mould ; some  single  or- 
naments, again,  which  are  very  large,  require  to  be  mould- 
ed and  cast  in  parts,  which  are  put  together  by  means  of 
cement.  When  the  cast  ornaments  are  sufficiently  dry 
the  pieces  are  scraped  and  trimmed,  the  joints  made  clean 
and  even,  and  they  are  set  in  the  cornice  with  plaster  of 
Paris,  with  white  lead,  or  with  a composition  called  iron 
cement,  as  the  case  may  require.  If  the  castings  have 
something  in  the  cornice  to  rest  upon,  the  first  will  do ; 
but  if  there  is  nothing  to  retain  or  attach  them  but  the 
cement,  one  of  the  two  latter  must  be  used.  Flowers 
and  other  ornaments  in  ceilings  which  are  too  large  and 
heavy  to  be  trusted  to  adhesive  matter  alone,  must  be 
screwed  on  to  wooden  cradling  behind  and  above  them. 

In  plastering  a wall  with  common  stucco,  and  its  use  is 
mostly  for  outside  work,  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
remove  the  dust  from  it  by  brushing,  and  then  wetting  it 
very  completely  with  water ; if  the  wall  to  be  stuccoed 
be  an  old  one,  or  one  of  which  the  joints  have  been  drawn, 
the  mortar  of  the  joints  must  be  chipped  or  even  raked 
out,  and  the  bricks  picked,  to  expose  a new  and  porous 
surface  to  the  plastering  before  brushing  and  wetting. 

The  wall  is  then  covered  with  stucco  in  a fluid  state,  ap- 
plied with  a broad  and  strong  hog’s  bristle  brush,  like 
common  white-washing.  When  this  is  nearly  dry  the 
stucco  must  be  laid  on  as  in  common  rendering,  unless  the 
work  is  to  be  floated,  when  the  process  is  nearly  similar 
to  that  in  floated  plastering.  Screeds  must  be  formed  at 
the  highest  and  lowest  extremities  of  the  wall,  or  of  that 
part  of  the  wall  which  is  in  the  same  vertical  line,  and  is 
not  intercepted  by  string  courses,  and  be  returned  at  the 
angles,  putting  the  whole  surface  into  a sort  of  frame. 

These  must  be  made  perfectly  straight  and  plumb,  so  as 
to  be  quite  out  of  winding,  by  the  careful  application  of 
the  plumb-rule  and  straight  edge.  Inner  vertical  screeds 
must  then  follow  at  three  or  four  feet  apart  across  the 
whole  surface,  and  be  made  to  range  exactly  with  the 
outer  ones,  and  then  the  interstices  must  be  filled  in  as  be- 
fore. As  the  work  is  made  good  it  must  be  well  rubbed 
with  the  hand-float,  as  in  the  execution  of  trowelled  stucco 
internally,  to  compress  the  material,  and  produce  a hard, 
even,  and  glossy  surface.  Preparations  for  cornices  and 
other  projections  from  the  straight  surface  of  the  work 
must  have  been  previously  made  in  or  on  the  brick  or 
stone-work,  by  the  protrusion  of  bricks,  tiles,  or  whatever 
may  be  best  suited  to  form  a core,  and  the  mouldings  and 
cornices  are  run  with  moulds,  in  the  manner  described  for 
the  same  things  internally,  only  that  in  work  of  this  kind  no 
plastic  material  but  the  stucco  itself  is  used;  that  is,  there 
is  no  preparation  of  any  softer  material  than  the  stucco  it- 
self put  under  it.  In  running  cornices  in  this  material,  work- 
men are  very  apt  to  mix  a little  plaster  of  Paris  with  the 
stucco  to  make  it  set  under  the  mould,  and  thus  give  sharp- 
ness and  fulness  to  the  mouldings;  but  this  should  not  be 
permitted ; for  the  plaster  is  not  qualified  to  stand  the  wea- 
ther as  the  stucco  is,  and,  if  mixed  with  it,  will  produce 
premature  decay.  (For  information  concerning  the  various 
modes  of  preparing  it,  see  the  article  Stucco).  When  the 
stucco  is  perfectly  dry,  it  may  be  painted  in  oil  colours,  or 
be  coloured  in  distemper ; and  in  either  case  it  is  generally 
ruled  over  the  surface  with  a lead  point,  to  give  it  the  ap- 
pearance of  gauged  stone-work. 

Rendering  in  Roman  cement  is  executed  almost  ex- 
actly in  the  same  manner  as  stucco  rendering  is,  only 
that  it  is  laid  on  the  saturated  wall  directly,  without  the 
preliminary  operation  of  roughing  in,  or  washing  the  sur- 
face with  a solution  of  the  material.  The  same  process. 


BUI.L 

Building,  too,  is  followed  in  floating  this  cement,  and  with  the  same 
exceptions ; and  as,  in  addition  to  its  superior  hardness 
and  capacity  for  duration,  it  is  a quick-setting  cement,  it 
is  far  preferable  to  any  of  the  common  stuccoes  for  run- 
ning cornices,  mouldings,  &c.  Roman  cement,  or,  as  it  is 
vulgarly  called  by  most  persons  concerned  in  the  opera- 
tions of  building,  compo,  a contraction  of  composition, 
may,  like  stucco,  be  painted  in  oil  or  coloured ; but  instead 
of  a size  colour,  which  is  used  for  almost  every  other  pur- 
pose in  plastering,  the  colour  for  this  composition  is  mixed 
with  diluted  sulphuric  acid.  This  too  may  be  lined  and 
tinted  to  imitate  stone  and  stone-work  of  any  description. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  refer  to  the  causes  of  the  pre- 
mature decay  which  takes  place  in  stuccoes  and  cements 
when  used  externally  as  a coating  to  walls.  The  primary 
cause  is  the  presence  of  muddy  earth  and  decayed  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  matter  in  the  sand  used  with  the  lime 
and  cement.  To  this  may  be  added  frequent  impurities 
in  the  limes  and  cements  themselves,  particularly  of  ar- 
gillaceous matter  in  the  former,  and  sometimes  to  the 
too  great  proportions  of  lime  or  cement  to  sand.  These 
things  might,  however,  remain  quiescent  for  a long  time, 
if  the  work  were  well  protected  from  access  of  moisture, 
which  is  the  grand  exciting  cause.  The  paint,  or  distem- 
per wash,  on  the  surface,  is  generally  sufficient  to  prevent 
the  rain  which  may  beat  against  a vertical  face  from 
penetrating,  especially  if  the  work  have  been  well  hand- 
floated  and  trowelled,  to  make  it  close  and  compact;  but 
the  evil  arises  from  exposure  above,  and  from  the  num- 
berless horizontal  unfloated  surfaces  which  are  constantly 
presented.  These  receive  and  collect  the  water,  and  con- 
vey in  streams  over  the  vertical  surfaces  what  is  not  imme- 
diately absorbed ; and  the  work  thus  becoming  saturated, 
frost  seizes  and  bursts  it,  or  warmth  calls  the  vegetative 
powers  of  the  impurities  in  it  into  action,  and  the  whole 
is  covered  with  a green  sward.  Let  the  sand  of  which  a 
plaster  composition  is  to  be  formed,  whether  with  lime  or 
cement,  be  washed  until  it  no  longer  discolours  clean  wa- 
ter, and  be  well  compounded  with  cementitious  matter 
free  from  the  impurities  with  which  it  is  so  frequently 
charged;  let  the  work  be  well  hand-floated  and  trowel- 
led, particularly  on  the  backs  or  upper  horizontal  surfaces 
of  projections,  and  protected  above  by  projecting  eaves 
or  otherwise  ; and  the  work,  with  common  care  and  atten- 
tion to  paint  or  distemper  at  intervals,  will  last  as  long  as 
any  thing  of  the  kind  can  be  expected,  or  is  found,  to  last 
anywhere. 

A cheap  and  useful  covering  for  external  walls  which 
are  protected  by  projecting  eaves,  in  plain  buildings,  is 
rough  cast.  This  is  executed  in  the  following  manner. 
The  surface  is  first  roughed  in,  or  rendered  with  lime  and 
hair ; and  when  that  is  set  dry,  another  coat  of  the  same 
material  is  superadded,  laid  as  evenly  as  it  can  be  without 
floating,  and  as  soon  as  a piece  of  two  or  three  yards  in 
extent  is  executed,  the  workman  lays  on  it  an  almost 
fluid  mixture  of  fine  clean  gravel  and  strong  lime,  which 
have  been  well  mixed  together.  This  is  immediately 
washed  with  any  ochreous  colour  that  may  be  desired,  and 
the  whole  dries  into  one  compact  mass. 

In  renovating  and  repairing  plastering,  the  whole  sur- 
face is  first  well  washed  to  remove  the  dirt  which  may 
have  attached  itself,  and  as  much  of  the  earthy  matter  of 
the  previous  coat  of  whitening  or  colouring  as  will  come 
away;  any  injuries  the  work  may  have  received,  such  as 
cracks  and  fractures,  are  then  repaired;  and  when  the 
new  stuff  is  quite  dry,  the  joinings  are  scraped  to  produce 
an  even  surface,  and  the  whole  is  again  whitened  or  co- 
loured once  or  twice,  or  oftener,  as  may  be  required,  to 
make  it  bear  out  well.  Stuccoed  walls  which  have  been 
painted  must  be  well  rubbed  with  pumice  stone,  to  take 


D I N G.  91 

off  the  old  paint  as  much  as  possible  before  they  are  newly  Building, 
painted.  ' 

Plastering  is  measured  in  feet  and  inches,  and  valued 
by  the  yard  superficial  of  nine  square  feet.  It  is  taken 
under  separate  heads  according  to  the  nature  and  descrip- 
tion of  the  work,  such  as,  rendered ; rendered  and  set ; ren- 
dered, floated,  and  set;  and  with  lath,  for  the  lathing  and 
plastering  are  valued  together;  lathed  and  laid;  lathed, 
laid,  and  set ; and  lathed,  plastered,  floated,  and  set. 
Whitening  and  colouring  are  taken  under  separate  heads, 
and  the  quantities  of  them  are  reduced  to  yards  also. 

Work  done  in  narrow  slips,  such  as  to  the  jambs  and  soffits 
of  doorways  and  other  openings,  is  measured  by  the  foot 
superficial,  and  so  are  the  backs  of  niches,  niche-heads,  &c. 

Arrises,  or  external  angles  and  quirks,  are  taken  extra  by 
the  running  foot,  and  beads  and  other  very  small  mould- 
ings are  measured  in  the  same  manner.  Larger  mouldings, 
however,  and  cornices,  whether  plain  or  enriched,  are  ta- 
ken by  the  foot  superficial,  and  the  quantity  is  ascertained 
by  multiplying  the  length,  minus  once  the  projection,  by 
the  girth,  of  the  moulding  or  cornice,  which  is  best  deter- 
mined by  measuring  its  mould  with  a tape  or  cord.  En- 
richments are  either  numbered  or  taken  at  so  much  the 
running  foot,  making  the  modeller’s  an  extra  charge,  if 
the  design  was  original  and  required  special  modelling 
and  moulding ; and  mitres  are  taken  at  so  much  a piece 
beyond  a limited  number.  This  number,  in  an  ordinary 
room,  is  generally  the  four  which  necessarily  occur  in  its 
four  angles,  making  those  which  are  usually  occasioned  by 
the  projection  of  the  chimney-breast  extra;  but  it  is  not 
an  uncommon  practice  to  bring  them  within  the  limit, 
and  count  only  all  that  may  occur  above  eight,  for  no 
difference  is  made  between  internal  and  external  angles. 

Circular  work,  whether  it  be  convex  or  concave,  of  every 
kind,  may  be  charged  about  one  fourth  higher  than  straight. 

Stuccoes  and  other  compositions  are  also  valued  by  the 
yard,  and  according  to  the  description  of  the  work,  with 
almost  similar  exceptions  to  those  mentioned  with  regard 
to  common  plastering.  Used  externally,  however,  all  the 
arrises  or  external  angles,  throatings,  grooves,  chamfers, 

&c.  are  taken  as  extra  by  the  running  foot  at  such  a width. 

In  the  practice  of  measuring  plasterer’s  work,  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  take  the  whole  surface  at  first,  and  then  what- 
ever deductions  there  may  be.  Thus  the  side  of  a room 
is  measured  over  all,  from  the  upper  edge  of  the  skirting 
grounds  up  to  the  cornice.  The  windows  and  doors  are 
deducted  by  taking  to  the  outside  of  their  framed  grounds 
for  the  width,  and  from  the  skirting  grounds  up  to  the 
top  of  those  of  the  door  or  window  for  the  height.  If 
there  be  more  than  one  of  each,  or  either  of  them,  to  de- 
duct, of  course  the  same  dimension  will  serve  for  all,  mul- 
tiplied by  as  many  times  as  each  deduction  occurs.  A 
ceiling  also  is  generally  taken  over  the  whole  surface, 
from  cornice  to  cornice,  a chimney-breast  or  other  projec- 
tion being  made  a deduction.  It  is  a moot  point  whether 
the  plasterer  should  not  be  allowed  that  part  of  the  ceil- 
ing and  wall  which  is  covered  by  the  cornice,  as  he  has 
actually  finished  the  whole  except  setting.  When  the 
cornice  is  bracketed,  however,  he  may  fairly  claim  up  to 
the  brackets. 

Scaffolding  is  not  generally  made  an  extra  charge  with 
new  work ; but  with  old  work  it  is,  if  scaffolding  be  ne- 
cessary ; for,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  the  plasterer 
is  enabled  to  wash,  stop,  and  whiten  the  ceilings  and  walls 
of  rooms  from  trestles,  with  boards  laid  across  them.  In 
lofty  saloons  and  halls,  churches,  &c.  scaffolding  is  indis- 
pensable, and  must  then  be  charged.  A scaffold  is  neces- 
sary, too,  to  a front  that  is  to  be  plastered  in  any  way; 
but  it  may  be  afterwards  washed,  repaired,  and  coloured, 
from  a ladder,  without  the  intervention  of  a scaffold. 


92 


BUILDING. 


IS 


made  wide  enough 
iglit  slating  it  is  necessary 


Building.  Slater.— The  principle  on  which  slates  are  laid  is  that 

which  is  employed  in  plain  tiling.  To  a roof  with  pro- 
jecting eaves,  a wide  board  is  placed  over  the  rafters’  feet ; 
but  when  the  eaves  tail  into  gutters,  the  gutter-board 
to  receive  the  eaves-course.  For 
to  board  a roof  all  over.  This 
is  done  by  the  carpenter,  and  is  called  sound-boarding ; 
but  for  strong  heavy  slates,  fillets  or  battens  are  better ; 
and  these  are  laid  by  the  slater  himself,  to  suit  the  length 
of  his  slates.  Three  inches  wide  and  one  inch  thick  is  a 
sufficient  size  for  them,  if  the  rafters  be  not  more  than 
twelve  inches  apart.  Against  gable  or  party-walls,  a fea- 
ther-edged board  called  a tilting  fillet  is  laid  to  turn  the 
water  from  the  wall. 

Before  he  begins  to  work  on  a roof,  the  slater  shapes 
and  trims  the  slates  on  the  ground.  With  a large  knife 
or  chopper  called  a saixe,  sax,  or  zax,  he  strikes  off  the 
unevennesses  on  one  side  of  a slate,  making  it  as  nearly 
straight  as  he  can  ; he  then  runs  a gauge  along  it,  marking 
the  greatest  width  the  slate  will  bear,  and,  cutting  to  that 
line,  makes  it  perfectly  parallel.  He  next,  with  a square, 
brings  the  thickest  and  best  end  to  right  angles  with  the 
sides,  generally  by  chopping,  but  sometimes  by  sawing; 
and  then  marking  upward  from  the  squared  foot  or  tail, 
makes  two  nail  holes,  where,  by  calculating  the  gauge 
the  slate  in  hand  will  bear,  he  knows  the  fillet  must  come. 
All  the  slates  being  thus  gauged  to  width,  dressed,  and 
sorted  in  lengths,  they  are  then  carried  on  to  the  roof  by 
the  labourers  in  rotation,  beginning  with  the  longest  and 
largest  for  the  lowest  courses.  The  first  course  the  slater 
lays  is  little  more  than  half  the  length  of  that  which  is 
intended  to  cover  it,  and  is  necessary  to  break  the  joints 
at  the  eaves.  This  is  called  the  doubling  eaves-course ; 
and  the  covering  eaves-course  is  brought  to  the  same  foot- 
line, completely  to  cover  it.  Then  to  ascertain  the  gauge  : 
From  the  length  of  the  slate  deduct  the  bond,  which  should 
never  be  less  than  two  inches,  and  need  not  be  more  than 
three  and  a half  inches,  and  the  half  of  what  remains  will  be 
the  gauge.  Thus,  if  the  bond  be  fixed  at  three  inches,  and 
the  slate  is  two  feet  three  inches  in  length,  the  gauge  will 
be  one  foot.  This  gauge  or  margin  is  set  up  from  the  foot 
of  the  eaves-course  at  each  end,  and  a line  strained  to 
mark  it  along  the  whole  length,  and  so  on,  to  the  ridge 
or  top,  where  another  half-course  is  required  to  complete 
the  work,  and  that  is  in  its  turn  secured  by  a covering  df 
sheet  lead.  To  a hipped  roof  care  is  taken  to  complete 
every  course  up  to  the  angle,  by  cutting  slates  to  fit  its 
inclination ; and  these  are  also  covered  by  an  overlap  of 
sheet  lead.  In  nailing  a slate,  it  must  not  be  strained  or 
bent  in  the  slightest  degree,  or  it  will  certainly  fly  in  some 
sudden  atmospheric  change,  to  which  it  is  of  course  con- 


stantly liable,  even  if  it  escape  fracture,  from  being  trod- 
den on  by  the  workmen  themselves  or  by  others.  Copper, 
being  less  liable  to  oxidize  from  exposure  to  common 
causes  than  any  other  metal  that  will  answer  the  purpose, 
is  generally  used  for  slate  nails.  Zinc  is  also  used  for  the 
purpose  ; and  iron  tinned  and  painted  nails  are  sometimes 
substituted  by  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  the  workman  or 
builder,  or  bad  economy  on  that  of  the  proprietor.  Slat- 
ing should  be  well  pointed  on  the  inside,  or  torched,  as 
the  operation  is  sometimes  termed,  with  lime  and  hair,  to 
keep  out  the  wind,  and  prevent  snow  from  driving  in, 
which  it  will  do  in  an  almost  incredible  manner  if  it  be 
not  thus  hindered."  Particular  attention  should  be  paid 
to  this,  as  the  neglect  of  it  occasions  more  damaged  ceil- 
ings than  even  broken  slates,  and  more  catarrhs  than  arise 
from  broken  panes  of  glass. 

A very  light  and  neat  covering  is  produced,  by  laying 
wide  slates  side  by  side,  and  covering  their  joints  with 
narrow  slips  bedded  in  putty,  the  overlap  at  the  ends 


being  no  more  than  the  bond  is  with  the  usual  mode.  It  Building, 
is  known  as  patent  slating,  and  was  introduced  by  the  '"T'w/ 
late  Mr  Wyatt,  though  he  never  obtained  a patent  for  it. 

Indeed  it  is  in  principle  the  mode  which  was  adopted  in 
ancient  Greece  in  covering  the  roofs  of  temples.  Neither 
boards  nor  fillets  are  used,  the  slate  bearing  from  rafter  to 
rafter,  and  to  the  rafters  the  slates  are  screwed.  The  co- 
vering slips  are  also  screwed,  as  well  as  bedded  in  putty. 

Slating  of  this  kind  may  be  laid  at  no  greater  elevation 
than  ten  degrees  ; whereas,  for  slating  in  the  ordinary 
way,  the  angle  should  never  be  much  less  than  twenty- 
five  degrees,  though  large  slates  with  a three  and  a half 
inch  bond,  carefully  laid  and  well  pointed,  may  perhaps  be 
trusted  at  a rise  of  twenty  degrees. 

The  mode  above  described  of  ascertaining  the  gauge 
or  margin  by  the  bond,  is  equally  applicable  to  every  sort 
of  roof-covering  that  is  made  up  of  small  inflexible  paral- 
lelogramic  slabs  or  tablets  ; and  it  should  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  greater  the  angle  is  at  which  the  rafters  rise,  or, 
in  technical  language,  the  higher  the  pitch  of  the  roof, 
the  less  the  bond  may  be,  and  vice  versa.  With  slabs  or 
tablets  that  vary  in  length,  too,  as  slates  generally  do  in 
this  country  as  they  are  brought  to  market,  it  is  the  bond 
which  it  is  of  importance  to  observe  ; but  if  they  are  of 
an  invariable  length,  as  tiles  are,  it  is  sufficient  that  the 
gauge  or  margin  be  attended  to. 

The  best  slate  this  country  produces  is  from  the  quar- 
ries of  Bangor  in  Caernarvonshire,  and  of  Kendal  in  Vfest- 
moreland.  Good  slate  is  also  procured  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Tavistock  in  Devonshire,  and  in  some  parts  of 
Scotland.  The  scantlings  of  slate  are  cut  in  the  quarries 
to  set  sizes,  and  these  are  split  into  tablets,  thicker  or 
thinner  according  to  the  size  of  the  slab  and  the  capacity 
of  the  slate,  for  the  inferior  qualities  are  neither  so  com- 
pact in  material,  nor  so  clearly  laminated  or  schistose,  as 
the  superior,  and  will  not  therefore  rend  so  freely.  The 
sizes  of  slates  best  known  in  the  British  market  are  distin- 
guished by  the  names  of  ladies,  countesses,  duchesses,  and 
queens.  Ladies  measure  fifteen  inches  by  eight,  coun- 
tesses twenty  inches  by  ten,  duchesses  twenty-four  inches 
by  twelve,  and  queens  thirty-six  inches  by  twenty-four; 
and  they  are  esteemed  in  proportion  to  their  magnitude. 

Besides  these,  there  is  a slate  which  equals  the  queen  in 
extent  of  surface,  but  is  of  very  much  greater  thickness ; 
this  is  called  Welsh  rag.  A smaller  slate,  again,  which  is 
less  indeed  than  the  lady,  and  is  cut  from  the  refuse  of 
large  scantlings,  is  called  a double.  In  size  it  does  not 
often  exceed  twelve  inches  by  six.  Westmoreland  slates 
are  thick  and  heavy  like  the  Welsh  rag,  but  do  not  ge- 
nerally run  so  large. 

The  best  slate  is  of  a bluish-grey  colour,  and  breaks 
before  the  zax  like  well-burnt  pottery,  and  will  ring  in  the 
same  manner  on  being  struck.  Whitish  or  light  grey- 
coloured  slate  is  for  the  most  part  stony:  dark  blue  or 
blackish  slate,  on  the  other  hand,  cuts  very  freely ; but  it 
absorbs  moisture,  and  decays  rapidly. 

Slater's  work  is  measured  by  the  square  of  a hundred 
superficial  feet.  In  a parallelogramic  piece  of  slating,  as 
in  a gabled  roof  with  projecting  eaves,  the  length  along 
the  eaves  by  the  breadth  or  height  from  that  to  the  ridge, 
with  the  addition  to  the  latter  dimension  of  the  gauge  or 
margin  for  doubling  the  eaves,  will  give  the  quantity  of 
one  side.  Projections  for  chimney-shafts  or  breasts,  sky- 
lights, &c.  must  be  deducted;  but  an  addition  must  be 
made  of  the  run  round  them  by  six  inches,  for  cutting  and 
waste.  In  a hipped  roof  the  length  from  point  to  point 
of  the  eaves  on  one  of  the  long  sides  of  a quadrilate- 
ral roof,  by  the  breadth  or  height,  with  the  addition  as 
before,  will  give  that  side  and  half  of  each  of  the  ends. 

The  other  side  will,  of  course,  in  the  same  manner,  include 


93 


B U I L 

Building,  the  other  halves  of  the  ends.  The  length  of  the  hips  taken 
as  a superficial  dimension  in  feet,  or  hy  twelve  inches,  is 
added  for  cutting  and  waste,  and  valleys  are  taken  and 
added  in  the  same  manner  when  they  occur. 

Carpenter. — For  the  scientific  principles  of  carpentry 
we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  article  under  that  head, 
and  to  the  articles  Roof,  Strength  of  Materials,  and 
Timber.  Here  we  have  merely  to  speak  of  the  practical 
details  of  carpenters’  work  in  the  operations  of  building, — 
indeed,  of  carpentering,  or  the  practice  of  carpentry,  con- 
sidering it  as  a mechanical  art. 

The  carpenter  works  in  wood,  which  he  receives  from 
the  sawyer  in  beams,  scantlings,  and  planks,  or  boards, 
which  he  cuts  and  combines  into  bond-timbers,  wall-plates, 
floors,  and  roofs.  He  is  distinguished  from  the  joiner  by 
his  operations  being  directed  to  the  mere  carcass  of  a 
building, — to  things  which  have  reference  to  structure 
only.  Almost  every  thing  the  carpenter  does  in  and  to  an 
edifice  is  absolutely  necessary  to  its  stability  and  efficiency, 
whereas  the  joiner  does  not  begin  his  operations  until  the 
carcass  is  complete ; and  every  article  of  joiners’  work 
might  at  any  time  be  removed  from  a building  without 
undermining  it  or  affecting  its  most  important  qualities. 
Certainly,  in  the  practice  of  building,  a few  things  do  oc- 
cur which  it  is  difficult  to  determine  to  whose  immediate 
province  they  belong ; but  the  distinction  is  nevertheless 
sufficiently  broad  for  general  purposes.  The  carpenter, 
with  the  bricklayer  or  mason,  and  some  of  the  minor  ar- 
tificers, constructs  the  frame  or  hull ; and  the  joiner,  with 
the  plasterer  and  others,  decorates  and  rigs  the  vessel : 
on  the  former  the  actual  existence  of  the  ship  depends, 
and  on  the  latter  depends  her  fitness  for  use. 

The  carpenter  frames  or  combines  separate  pieces  of 
timber  by  scarfing,  notching,  cogging,  tenoning,  pinning, 
and  wedging;  and  the  tools  he  uses  are  the  rule,  the  axe, 
the  adze,  the  saw,  the  mallet,  hammers,  chisels,  gouges, 
augers,  hook-pins,  a square,  a bevel,  a pair  of  compasses, 
and  a gauge,  together  with  the  level  and  plumb-rule ; be- 
sides these,  planes,  gimlets,  pincers,  a sledge  hammer,  a 
maul  or  beetle,  wedges,  and  a crow-bar,  may  be  considered 
useful  auxiliaries,  though  they  are  not  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  performance  of  works  of  carpentry. 

To  scarf  is  to  cut  away  equally  from  the  ends,  but  on 
the  opposite  sides,  of  two  pieces  of  timber,  for  the  purpose 
of  tying  or  connecting  them  lengthwise.  This  is  done  to 
wall-plates  and  bond-timber,  and  especially  to  beams  when 
they  are  required  of  greater  length  than  can  be  procured 
without  joining.  (See  Carpentry.)  The  usual  mode  of 
scarfing  bond  and  wall-plates  is  by  cutting  about  three 
fifths  through  each  piece  on  the  upper  face  of  the  one  and 
the  under  face  of  the  other,  about  six  or  eight  inches  from 
the  end,  transversely,  making  what  is  technically  termed 
a calf  or  kerf,  and  longitudinally  from  the  end,  from  two 
fifths  down  on  the  same  side,  so  that  the  pieces  lap  toge- 
ther with  a sort  of  half  dovetail.  The  heavy  supervening 
weight  of  the  wall  and  joists  renders  it  impossible  that 
they  should  be  drawn  apart  without  tearing  the  fibres 
Piate  asunder  or  lifting  the  weight.  (See  fig.  20.)  Neverthe- 
cxxxvm.  less  these  joints  are  generally  spiked,  and  it  is  always 
required  that  they  be  made  to  fall  in  or  under  a pier. 
Notching  is  either  square  or  dovetailed:  it  is  used  in 
connecting  the  ends  of  wall-plates  and  bond-timber  at 
the  angles,  in  letting  joists  down  on  beams  or  binders, 
purlines  on  principal  rafters,  &c.  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4,  and  5, 
fig.  21,  show  varieties  of  notches  applied  as  we  have  de- 
scribed. No.  1 is  a simple  square  notch  or  halving  of  the 
ends  of  bond-timbers  or  wall-plates  at  a right  angle;  No. 
2,  a dovetailed  notch.  No.  3,  the  notch  most  commonly 
used ; it  is  similar  to  No.  1,  but  that  the  ends  are  allowed 
to  run  on  so  that  the  one  piece  grasps  the  other,  and  each 


forms  a cog  to  the  other.  No.  4 is  an  oblique-angled,  Building, 
dovetailed  notch  ; and  No.  5 shows  how  joints  are  notched 
or  let  down  on  beams  and  binders,  and  purlines  on  princi- 
pal rafters.  A notch  is  cut  into  the  under  edge  of  the 
joist  or  purline  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a half  in  depth,  and 
considerably  shorter  than  the  beam,  binder,  or  rafter  is  in 
thickness.  Notches  are  also  cut  down  on  the  upper  angles 
of  the  bearing  pieces  as  long  as  the  rider  is  thick,  as  deep 
as  the  notch  before  described  of  the  latter  is,  and  so  far 
in  as  to  leave  a thickness  on  its  own  edge  equal  to  the 
length  of  the  notch  in  the  riding  joist  or  purline.  In  the 
diagram  one  joint  is  indicated  in  its  place  let  down  in  the 
notch,  and  another  indicates  the  notch  in  its  own  edge, 
and  leaves  exposed  the  notches  in  the  binder.  Cogging, 
or  cocking  as  it  is  vulgarly  termed,  is  the  last- mentioned 
species  of  notch  extended  on  one  side,  and  leaving  a nar- 
row tooth  or  cog  alone  in  the  bearing-piece  flush  with  its 
upper  face,  No.  1,  fig.  22.  It  is  used  principally  in  tailing 
joists  and  beams  on  wall  and  tem-plates,  and  the  cog  is  here 
made  narrower,  because  the  end  of  the  joist  or  rider  com- 
ing immediately  beyond  the  plate,  that  part  which  forms 
the  shoulder  of  the  notch  would  be  liable,  on  being  strain- 
ed, to  be  chipped  off  or  torn  away,  if  it  were  not  kept  as 
long  as  possible ; and  it  is  not  of  so  much  importance  to 
guard  against  weakening  a wall-plate  which  is  supported 
along  its  whole  length,  as  a beam,  binder,  or  principal  raft- 
er, which  rests  on  distant  points  alone.  No.  2 of  the  same 
diagram  shows  another  mode  of  tailing  on  joists  and  beams 
by  a dovetail  notch,  which,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  flat 
notches,  Nos.  2 and  4,  fig.  21,  is  called  cocking,  or  cogging 
also,  though  the  operation  decidedly  is  not  cogging.  This  is 
a good  mode  if  the  timber  be  so  well  seasoned  as  not  to  be 
likely  to  shrink  more ; but  it  would  be  improved  by  allowing 
the  rider  to  take  a bearing  in  a notch  like  that  to  No.  1 be- 
fore the  dovetail  commenced,  as  at  No.  3,  for  in  the  ordi- 
nary mode  it  is  weakened  in  a point  of  great  importance. 

Tenoning  implies  mortising  also,  as  a matter  of  course. 

They  are  the  names  of  the  two  operations  necessary  to 
one  result, — that  of  producing  a connection  between  two 
pieces  by  inserting  part  of  the  end  of  one  into  a hole 
of  similar  size  cut  in  the  side  or  edge  of  the  other.  A 
tenon  is  formed  by  cutting  in  on  each  side  or  edge  of  a 
piece  of  timber,  near  its  end,  transversely,  to  a certain 
depth,  or  rather,  leaving  a certain  part  of  the  breadth  or 
depth  uncut,  and  then  cutting  in  longitudinally  from  the 
ends  as  far  from  each  edge  as  the  transverse  cuts  have 
been  made  in  depth,  thus  removing  two  square  prisms  and 
leaving  a third  undivided.  This  is  the  tenon.  An  exca- 
vation in  the  side  of  a piece  of  timber,  of  a certain  depth, 
in  the  direction  of  its  thickness,  parallel  to  its  edges,  and 
bounded  lengthwise  by  lines  at  right  angles  to  them,  is  a 
mortise.  Tenons  and  mortises  are  made  of  exactly  cor- 
responding size,  and  are  most  frequently  at  equal  distances 
from  one  or  the  other  side  or  edge  of  the  two  pieces  to  be 
conjoined ; and  for  the  most  part,  too,  every  angle  formed 
in  tlie  process  of  tenoning,  both  internal  and  external,  is 
a right  angle.  Tenons  are  called  joggles  in  some  situations, 
when  they  are  not  intended  to  be  borne  upon;  and  their 
use  is  merely  to  keep  the  piece  of  timber  to  which  they 
belong  steadily  in  its  place,  without  being  liable  to  slight 
accidents  from  lateral  pressure  or  violence.  In  combining 
timbers  by  means  of  mortises  and  tenons,  to  produce  as 
great  a degree  of  strength  as  possible,  it  must  be  obvious 
that  the  object  to  be  kept  in  view  is  to  maintain  the  end 
or  tenon  of  the  one  as  large  and  efficient  as  it  may  be,  and 
weaken  the  other  as  little  as  possible  in  forming  the  mor- 
tise. For  the  efficiency  of  the  mortised  piece  in  a hori- 
zontal bearing,  it  is  clear  that  as  much  of  its  thickness 
should  be  below  the  mortise  as  possible,  as  at  a,  fig.  23; 
for  if  it  be  put  low,  as  at  b,  the  superincumbent  weight  on 


94  BUI  L 

Building,  the  tenon  would  more  readily  split  or  rend  it  in  the  direc- 
tion  of  the  grain,  as  indicated;  but  the  case  is  inverted 
with  the  tenoned  pieces.  With  the  mortise  at  a the  tenon 
could  only  have  the  efficacy  of  so  much  of  the  piece  to 
which  it  belongs  as  there  is  of  it  above  its  under  surface, 
which  is  a very  small  part  of  its  depth  ; whereas  with  the 
tenon  at  b it  would  command  the  power  of  the  greatest 
part  of  the  piece.  To  guard  as  much  as  possible  against 
the  danger  of  too  great  a mortise  and  too  small  a tenon  on 
one  side  and  the  other,  and  to  obviate  the  difficulty  aris- 
ing from  the  efficiency  of  one  or  the  other  of  the  two 
pieces  being  affected  by  putting  the  tenon  too  high  or  too 
low,  a compound,  called  a tusk  tenon,  is  used  for  almost 
all  horizontal  bearings  of  any  importance,  especially  to 
joists  and  binders,  to  trimmers,  beams,  girders,  brestsum- 
mers,  &c.  The  body  of  the  tenon  in  this  is  a little  above 
the  middle  of  the  end,  and  it  runs  out  two,  three,  or  four 
inches,  or  more,  as  the  case  may  require.  Below  it  the 
tusk  protrudes,  and  above  it  the  shoulder  is  cut  down  at 
an  obtuse  angle  with  the  horizontal  line,  giving  the  strength 
of  the  whole  depth  of  the  timber  above  the  under  tusk  to 
the  tenon,  and  giving  it  a bearing  in  a shallow  mortise, 
whilst  a greater  depth  of  the  mortised  piece  than  the  tusk 
rests  on  receives  the  body  of  the  tenon,  and  so  protects  its 
comparatively  narrow  margin  from  undue  pressure.  The 
diagram  No.  1,  fig.  24,  shows  the  tusk  tenon,  with  the  section 
of  a beam  into  which  it  is  mortised  ; and  No.  2 indicates 
perspectively  the  appearance  of  the  mortise  in  front.  See 
also  Carpentry. 

Pinning  is  the  insertion  of  nearly  cylindrical  pieces  of 
wood  or  iron  through  a tenon,  to  detain  it  in  the  mortise, 
or  prevent  it  from  being  drawn  out  by  any  ordinary  force. 
For  this  purpose  the  pin  is  inserted  either  in  the  body,  or 
beyond  the  thickness,  of  the  mortised  piece,  as  indicated 
at  a , fig.  24,  or  at  a,  fig.  25.  Wedging  (see  bb,  No.  2,  fig. 
25)  is  the  insertion  of  triangular  prisms,  whose  converg- 
ing sides  are  under  an  extremely  acute  angle,  into  or  by 
the  end  of  a tenon,  to  make  it  fill  the  mortise  so  complete- 
ly, or  bind  it  so  tightly,  that  it  cannot  be  easily  withdrawn. 
The  wedging  of  tenons  also  assists  in  restoring  to  the 
mortised  piece  of  timber  much  of  the  strength  it  had  lost 
by  the  excision  of  so  much  of  its  mass,  which  indeed  the 
tenon  itself  does  if  it  fit  closely  in  every  direction  ; but  the 
assistance  of  the  wedge  renders  the  restoration  more  per- 
fect than  the  tenon  could  be  made  to  do  of  itself,  by  com- 
pressing the  fibres  of  both,  longitudinally  to  those  of  the 
one,  and  transversely  to  those  of  the  other,  thus  removing 
the  tendency  of  the  mortised  piece  to  yield  in  any  degree 
in  the  weakened  part,  though  it  cannot  make  up  the  loss 
in  its  tenacity  occasioned  by  the  section  of  its  fibres. 

In  scarfing,  cogging,  and  notching,  the  shoulders  are  al- 
ways cut  in  with  the  saw ; but  the  cheek  is  for  the  most 
part  struck  out  with  the  mallet  and  chisel,  or  adze,  as  may 
be  most  convenient.  Tenons  should  be  made  entirely  with 
the  saw : mortises  are  generally  bored  at  the  ends  with  an 
auger  whose  diameter  equals  their  thickness ; the  interven- 
ing part  is  taken  out  with  a wide  chisel,  cutting  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  fibre  ; and  the  ends  are  squared  down  with  a 
chisel  whose  breadth  just  equals  the  thickness  of  the  mor- 
tise. Wood  pins  must  be  rent  to  insure  the  equal  tenacity 
of  their  whole  mass.  Wedges  are  cut  with  the  saw,  but 
straight  grained  stuff  is  always  preferred  for  them. 

Bond-timbers  and  wall-plates  should  be  carefully  notch- 
ed together  at  every  angle  and  return,  and  scarfed  at 
every  longitudinal  joint.  The  scarf  shown  at  fig.  20  is 
sufficient  for  the  purpose ; and  the  notch  at  No.  3,  fig.  21, 
may  be  preferred  where  notching  is  required  ; neither  pinn- 
ing nor  nailing,  however,  can  be  of  great  use  to  either  the 
notch  or  the  scarf.  Bond-timbers  are  passed  along  and 
through  all  openings,  and  are  not  cut  out  until  such  open- 


D I N G. 

ings  are  to  be  permanently  occupied,  that  is,  windows  with  Building, 
their  sash-frames,  &c.  because  they  assist  in  preventing  v'*“ 
irregular  settlements,  by  helping  to  carry  the  weight  of  a 
heavy  part  along  the  substruction  generally,  instead  of  allow- 
ing it  to  press  unduly  upon  the  part  ijnmediately  under  it. 

Whatever  notches  and  cogs  for  beams  and  joists  are  re- 
quired in  wall  and  tern-plates,  should  be  made  before  they 
are  set  on  or  in  a wall ; for,  as  they  are  always  bedded  in 
mortar,  any  thing  that  may  break  the  set  must  be  avoided. 

It  is  incumbent  on  the  carpenter  to  supply  the  brick- 
layer or  mason  with  wood  bricks  in  sufficient  quantity,  and 
to  direct  him  where  they  should  be  placed  to  receive  the 
joiner’s  fittings,  or  the  battening,  which  the  carpenter  him- 
self may  have  to  put  up  for  the  plasterer. 

The  framed  quartering  partitions  which  may  be  requir- 
ed should  be  set  up  in  every  story  before  the  beams  and 
joists  of  the  floors  are  laid,  that  their  horizontal  timbers 
may  be  notched  on  to  the  wall-plates,  and  that  the  joists 
or  binders  may  be  notched  on  to  them  if  occasion  require 
it ; but  they  should  be  fixed  rather  below  than  above  the 
level  of  the  wall-plates,  because  they  are  not  liable  to  set- 
tle down  so  much  as  the  walls,  though  even  that  will  de- 
pend in  a great  degree  on  the  nature  of  the  walling,  and 
its  liability  to  yield. 

The  carpenter  makes  and  fixes  or  sets  centres  of  all 
kinds,  whether  for  single  arches,  vaults,  or  drains.  The 
striking  out  of  the  centres,  in  the  first  instance,  is  neces- 
sarily contingent  on  the  arches  to  be  turned  on  them,  for 
the  forms  of  which  the  carpenter  must  look  to  the  brick- 
layer or  mason,  whose  instructions  for  describing  arches 
will  be  found  under  the  head  Stone-Masonry.  Large 
centres  are  framed  in  distinct  ribs,  and  are  connected  by 
horizontal  ties ; whilst  small  ones  are  made  of  mere  boards 
cut  to  the  required  sweep,  nailed  together,  and  connected 
by  battens  notched  into  or  nailed  on  their  edges.  Preci- 
sion and  stability  are  nevertheless  equally  and  absolutely 
necessary,  as  it  is  impossible  for  an  arch  to  be  turned  or 
set  correctly  on  an  incorrect  or  unstable  centre. 

The  timbers  or  frame-work  of  floors  is  called  naked  floor- 
ing, and  it  is  distinguished  as  single,  double,  and  framed. 

Of  these  the  first,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  is  the 
strongest.  Single  flooring  (see  No.  I and  2,  fig.  29)  con-  plate 
sists  of  one  row  or  tier  of  joists  alone,  bearing  from  oneCXXXlX. 
wall  or  partition  to  another,  without  any  intermediate  sup- 
port, receiving  the  flooring  boards  on  the  upper  surface  or 
edges  of  the  joists,  and  the  ceiling,  if  there  be  one,  on  the 
lower.  Joists  in  single  floors  should  never  be  less  than  two 
inches  in  thickness,  because  of  their  liability  to  be  split  by 
the  brads  or  nails  of  the  boards  if  they  are  thinner ; and  they 
should  never  be  much  more,  because  of  the  keying  of  the 
ceiling,  which  is  injuriously  affected  by  great  thickness  of 
the  joists.  Twelve  inches  from  joist  to  joist  is  the  distance 
generally  allowed  ; that  dimension,  however,  from  centre  to 
centre  of  the  joists  would  be  better.  Strength  to  almost  any 
extent  may  be  given  by  adding  to  the  depth  of  the  joists, 
and  diminishing  the  distance  between  them  ; and  they  may 
be  made  firm,  and  be  prevented  from  buckling  or  twisting, 
by  putting  struts  between  them.  These  struts  are 
short  pieces  of  batten,  which  should  not  be  less 
than  an  inch,  and  need  not  be  more  than  an  inch  and 
a half  thick,  and  three  or  four  inches  wide,  placed 
diagonally  between  the  joists,  to  which  they  are  nailed,  in 
a double  series,  or  crossing,  as  indicated  by  the  full  and 
dotted  lines  in  the  diagram,  fig.  26 ; and  they  should  be 
made  to  range  in  a right  line,  that  none  of  their  effect  may 
be  lost ; and  these  ranges  or  rows  should  be  repeated  at 
intervals  not  exceeding  five  or  six  feet.  The  struts  should 
be  cut  at  the  ends  with  exactly  the  same  inclination  or 
bevel,  to  fit  closely.  Great  care  should  be  taken,  too,  not 
to  split  the  struts  in  nailing ; but  the  trouble  of  boring 


BUILDING. 


95 


Building.  with  a gimlet  is  saved  by  making  a slight  nick  or  incision 
with,  a wide-set  saw  for  each  nail,  of  which  there  should 
not  be  less  than  two  at  each  end  ; and  the  nails  used 
should  be  clasp-nails.  If  the  struts  were 
notched  into  the  joists,  it  would  add  very 
materially  to  their  efficiency,  but  perhaps 
not  in  proportion  to  the  additional  labour  it 
would  involve.  This  strutting  should  be 
done  to  single  flooring  under  any  circumstances,  as  it  adds 
materially  to  its  firmness,  and  indeed  to  its  strength,  by 
making  the  joists  transmit  any  stress  or  pressure  from  one 
to  another.  The  efficiency  of  single  flooring  is  materially 
affected  by  the  necessity  which  constantly  occurs  in  prac- 
tice of  trimming  round  fire-places  and  flues,  and  across  va- 
cuities. Trimming  is  a mode  of  supporting  the  end  of  a 
joist  by  tenoning  it  into  a piece  of  timber  crossing  it,  and 
called  a trimmer,  instead  of  running  it  on  or  into  the  wall 
which  supports  the  ends  of  the  other  joists  generally.  A 
trimmer  requires  for  the  most  part  to  be  carried  or  sup- 
ported at  one  or  both  of  its  ends  by  some  of  the  joists, 
which  are  called  trimming  joists,  and  are  necessarily  made 
stouter  than  if  they  had  to  bear  no  more  than  their  own 
share  of  the  stress.  Commonly  it  is  found  enough  to 
make  the  trimmers  and  trimming  joists  from  half  an  inch 
to  an  inch  thicker  than  common  joists.  In  trimming,  tusk 
tenons  should  be  used  ; and  the  long  tongue  or  main  body 
of  the  tenon  should  run  not  less  than  two  inches  through, 
and  be  draw-pinned,  and  wedged,  moreover,  if  it  do  not 
completely  fill  the  mortise  in  the  direction  of  the  length 
of  the  latter.  The  principal  objection,  however,  to  single 
flooring  is,  that  sound  readily  passes  through,  the  attach- 
ment of  the  boards  above  and  of  the  ceiling  below  being 
to  the  same  joists  throughout.  Another  objection,  and  one 
already  referred  to,  is  the  necessity  of  making  the  joists 
so  thin,  not  to  injure  the  ceilings,  that  they  with  difficulty 
receive  the  flooring  brads  in  their  upper  edges  without 
splitting,  A partial  remedy  for  both  these  disadvantages 
is  found  in  a mode  sometimes  adopted  of  making  every 
third  or  fourth  joist  an  inch  or  an  inch  and  a half  deeper 
than  the  intervening  joists ; and  to  these,  ceiling  joists  are 
notched  and  nailed,  or  nailed  alone,  as  shown  in  the  dia- 
gram, fig.  26.  This,  by  diminishing  the  number  of  points 
of  contact  between  the  upper  and  lower  surface,  for  the 
ceiling  joists  must  be  carefully  kept  from  touching  the 
shallower  joists  of  the  floor,  is  less  apt  to  convey  sound 
from  one  story  to  another,  and  allows  conveniently  thin 
joists  to  be  used  for  the  ceiling  without  affecting  those  of 
the  floor.  It  clearly,  however,  involves  the  necessity  of 
cogging  the  deeper  joists  down  so  much  more  on  the  wall- 
plates  on  which  their  ends  rest. 

Double  flooring  (see  sections  No.  1 and  2,  fig,  27,  and 
plan  No.  3,  fig.  29)  consists  of  three  distinct  tiers  of  joists, 
which  are  called  binding,  bridging,  and  ceiling  joists. 
The  binders  in  this  are  the  real  support  of  the  floor ; they 
run  from  wall  to  wall,  and  carry  the  bridging  joists  above 
and  the  ceiling  joists  below  them.  Binders  need  not  be 
less  and  should  not  be  much  more  than  six  feet  apart, 
that  is,  if  the  bridging  or  flooring  joists  are  not  inordinate- 
ly weak.  The  bridging  joists  form  the  upper  tier,  and  are 
notched  down  on  the  binders  with  the  notch  shown  at 
No.  5,  fig.  21.  The  ceiling  joists  range  under  the  binders, 
and  are  notched  and  nailed  as  shown  at  No.  I,  fig.  27  ; 
but  the  notch  must  be  taken  entirely  out  of  the  ceiling 
joists,  for  the  lower  face  or  edge  of  the  binder  may  not  be 
wounded  by  any  means  or  on  any  account,  and  moreover 
no  good  would  be  gained  in  any  other  respect  by  doing  so. 
When  it  is  an  object  to  save  height  in  the  depth  or  thick- 
ness of  this  species  of  floor,  the  ceiling  joists  may  be 
tenoned  into  the  binders,  instead  of  being  nailed  on  to 
them  ; in  this  case  the  latter  must  be  chase-mortised  on 


one  side,  for  the  convenience  of  receiving  the  former  when  Building. 

they  are  themselves  set  and  fixed.  A chase  is  a long  ~ 

wedge-formed  groove  of  the  breadth  or  thickness  of  the 

mortise,  of  which  it  is  indeed  an  _ '//'//Ay// 

elongation,  so  that  the  tenon  at 

one  end  of  a ceiling  joist  being  chase  mortise 

inserted  in  the  regular  mortise  i 

in  the  binder  prepared  for  it,  that  at  the  other  end  is  driven 

along  the  chase  up  to  its  place  in  the  mortise  in  the  next 

binder.  When  ceiling  joists  are  thus  chase-mortised,  their 

lower  or  under  faces  are  allowed  to  come  a little  below  the 

under  face  of  the  binders,  and  the  space  across  is  firred 

down  by  slips  not  wider  than  the  ceiling  joists  are  thick. 

No.  2,  fig.  27,  shows  a transverse  compartment,  or  bay,  of  a 
floor  in  this  manner;  but  it  is  not  so  good  a one  as  the 
preceding ; for,  besides  weakening  the  binders,  by  cutting 
so  many  mortises  and  chases  in  them,  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to  give  the  ceiling  floor  the  degree  of  firmness  and 
consistency  it  possesses  in  the  other  way,  besides  requir- 
ing the  firring  down  on  the  binders.  The  same  space 
would  be  better  gained  by  cutting  the  bridging  joists  so 
much  lower  down  ; as  they  may,  with  the  sort  of  notch  in- 
dicated above,  be  let  down  fully  half  their  depth  without 
great  injury  to  either  bridging  joists  or  binder,  for  they 
can  always  be  made  to  fit  tightly  or  firmly,  and  very  little 
more  labour  is  involved  in  notching  deeply  than  slightly. 

Flooring  is  said  to  be  framed  when  girders  are  used  to- 
gether with  binding,  bridging,  and  ceiling  joists.  (See  sec- 
tions No.  1 and  2,  fig.  28,  and  plan  No.  4,  fig.  29.)  Girders 
are  large  beams,  in  one  or  more  pieces,  according  to  the 
length  required,  and  the  size  and  strength  of  which  tim- 
ber can  be  procured.  They  are  intended  for  longer  bear- 
ings than  mere  binders  may  be  trusted  at,  and  may  be 
strengthened  to  almost  any  extent  by  trussing ; but  to  be 
efficient,  the  height  of  the  truss  must  always  be  greater 
than  the  depth  of  the  beam  itself,  and  the  strength  is  in- 
creased by  extending  that  height  as  the  space  or  bearing 
increases.  A truss  is  indeed  a wooden  arch,  whose  late- 
ral thrust  will  of  course  be  greater  the  smaller  the  angle 
subtended  by  it,  and  vice  versa.  It  has  been  a commonly 
received  opinion,  that  a truss  within  the  depth  of  a girder 
adds  materially  to  its  strength ; but  experiments  have 
proved  that  very  little  advantage  is  gained  by  such  a one 
when  executed  in  the  best  manner,  and  that,  badly  exe- 
cuted, the  beam  or  girder  is  weaker  with  the  truss  than 
without  it.  Binders  are  made  dependent  on  the  girders 
by  means  of  double  tusk  tenons,  and  on  and  to  them  the 
bridging  and  ceiling  joists  are  attached  in  the  manner 
before  described.  No.  1,  fig.  28,  shows  the  transverse  sec- 
tion of  a compartment  or  bay  of  a framed  floor ; No.  2 the 
same  longitudinally  of  the  girder,  and  of  the  bridging  and 
ceiling  joists,  and  transversely  of  the  binders.  No.  1,  fig. 

29,  is  the  plan  of  a single  floor  of  joists  tailing  in  on  wall- 
plates  with  two  chains  of  struts,  and  trimmed  to  a fire- 
place. No.  2 is  a floor  similar  to  No.  1,  with  ceiling  joists 
nailed  to  deeper  flooring  joists  at  intervals,  as  shown  in 
fig.  26.  No.  3 is  the  plan  of  a double  floor;  and  No.  4 is 
that  of  a framed  floor  of  joists,  bays  of  which  are  shown  in 


section  at  fig.  27  and  28. 

Partitions  of  timber  are  called  quartering  partitions, 
and  they  are  generally  framed.  Common  quartering  par- 
titions which  rest  on  a wall  or  floor,  and  have  nothing  to 
carry,  consist  merely  of  a sill,  a head,  and  common  up- 
rights to  receive  the  lath  for  plastering : these  last  may 
be  simply  joggled  or  tenoned  into  the  head  and  sill,  in  the 
manner  shown  at  c,  fig.  23,  and  stiffened  by  struts  or 
stretching  pieces  put  between  them  and  nailed.  When, 
however,  a quartering  partition  is  over  a vacuity,  or  rests 
only  on  certain  points,  and  has,  moreover,  to  sustain  a 
weight,  a floor  perchance,  it  is  framed  and  trussed  with 


96  BUIL 

Building,  king  or  queen  posts  and  braces,  on  the  principle  of  a roof ; 

and  the  filling  in  of  common  uprights  or  quarters  for  the 
laths  is  generally  performed  by  joggling  them  at  one  end 
into  either  head  or  sill,  and  nailing  them  securely  to  the 
raking  braces.  In  the  diagram  No.  1,  fig.  30,  it  is  supposed 
that  an  opening  or  doorway  is  to  be  made  in  the  partition, 
so  that  the  timbers  of  the  truss  are  placed  around  it  with 
queen-posts,  and  a small  internal  truss  is  put  over  the  door- 
head  to  prevent  it  from  sagging,  and  to  carry  the  long 
part  of  the  partition,  which  we  suppose  required  to  bear 
a floor,  so  that  the  partition  acts  also,  in  fact,  the  part  of  a 
trussed  girder  in  the  most  available  form.  No.  2 presents 
another  method  of  framing  a similar  partition. 

Shoring  or  propping  up  walls  or  floors,  shoring  for 
sewers,  &c.  is  done  by  the  carpenter.  In  appearance  it  is 
a simple  operation,  and  under  ordinary  circumstances  it 
really  is  so  ; but  nevertheless  it  often  demands  the  exercise 
of  considerable  skill  and  tact  to  determine  and  to  counter- 
act the  tendency  the  part  or  thing  to  be  supported  has 
in  one  direction  or  another. 

Pugging  floors,  firring  down  joists,  and  bracketing  and 
cradling  for  plastering,  and  some  other  things,  are  ope- 
rations performed  indifferently  by  the  carpenter  or  joiner, 
for  they  are  not  necessarily  connected  with  the  one  more 
than  the  other  of  these  two  mechanical  arts. 

The  labour  of  carpenter’s  work  is  valued  by  the  square 
of  one  hundred  superficial  feet  whenever  it  will  admit  of 
being  so  measured,  and  the  timber  is  as  generally  valued 
by  the  cubic  foot.  It  is  customary  for  the  carpenter’s 
work  to  be  measured  at  the  same  time  with  the  walls  and 
roof  covering,  or  when  the  carcass  of  a building  is  com- 
pleted, and  before  the  joiner  and  plasterer  commence  their 
operations;  for  then  it  is  all  still  exposed,  and  may  be 
correctly  and  certainly  measured,  whereas  much  must  be 
taken  on  trust  if  the  measurement  be  deferred  until  the 
works  are  completely  finished. 

Bond  timber,  wood  bricks,  and  wall  and  tem-plates,  are 
taken  under  the  same  head,  and  are  reduced  to  cubic  feet 
of  timber  at  so  much  per  foot,  including  the  labour  of 
every  kind  on  it.  The  naked  flooring  is  taken  on  the  sur- 
face from  wall  to  wall,  with  a description  of  the  nature  of 
it,  whether  it  be  single,  double,  or  framed — if  trimmed  to 
chimneys,  party  walls,  stairs,  or  to  any  thing  else — if 
notched  or  cogged  to  wall-plates  and  partition  heads-^the 
number  and  size  of  the  large  timbers,  ceiling  joists  as 
notched  and  nailed  to  wall-plates,  and  as  framed  or  notch- 
ed and  nailed  to  binders  or  common  joists ; and  every 
thing  indeed  that  affects  the  quantity  of  labour  required 
in  forming  it.  The  superficial  feet  are  reduced  to  squares 
for  the  labour  and  nails  involved  and  used  in  forming  and 
fixing  or  setting  the  floors.  The  timbers  of  which  the 
flooring  is  composed  are  then  taken  in  detail  and  in  cubic 
quantities,  and  are  said  to  be  without  labour,  or  with  no 
labour.  Roofing  is  measured  in  the  same  manner,  by  the 
superficial  square,  for  labour  and  nails,  taken  on  the  com- 
mon rafters  from  ridge  to  heel ; the  length  of  a rafter  by 
the  length  of  the  roof  for  one  side  of  a common  span,  and 
repeated  or  doubled  for  the  other,  noting  also  a descrip- 
tion of  the  roof,  whether  it  be  lean-to  or  shed  roofing,  if 
on  purlines  and  with  struts ; common  span-roofing ; curb 
roofing ; span  roofing  with  purlines  and  collar  beams, 
strutted  or  otherwise,  from  walls  or  partitions ; span  roof- 
ing with  framed  principals,  tie-beams,  king-posts  or  queen- 
posts,  straining  beam,  straining  sill,  struts,  purlines,  pole- 
plates,  and  so  on  or  as  the  case  may  be,  and  this  too  for 
labour  and  nails.  All  the  timbers  are  then  taken,  measur- 
ing every  one  to  the  extent  of  any  tenon  or  tenons  at  its 
ends,  in  cubic  quantities  also,  and  as  without  labour. 
Bolts,  bars,  straps,  stirrups,  &c.  are  taken  separately,  and 
their  dimensions  noted  from  which  to  ascertain  their 


D I N G. 

weight.  Gutter-boards  and  bearers  are  measured  and  va-  Building, 
lued  by  the  foot  superficial,  according  to  the  thickness  of 
the  former.  Rough  boarding  for  lead  on  flats,  and  sound 
boarding  for  slates  or  lead,  are  taken  superficially,  and  re- 
duced into  squares.  Centring  to  vaults  is  measured  on  the 
periphery  of  the  arch,  or  round  back  of  the  centre,  for  the 
breadth,  by  the  length,  and  is  valued  by  the  square;  to  aper- 
tures in  the  thickness  of  walls,  by  the  foot,  and  to  camber- 
arches,  by  number,  so  much  a piece.  Quartering  partitions 
are  measured  by  the  square  for  labour  and  nails,  and  the  ma- 
terial is  taken  by  the  cubic  foot.  Battening  to  walls  is  also 
measured  by  the  square,  but  the  stuff  is  generally  included 
with  the  labour,  as  in  boarding.  Cradling  and  bracketing  is 
valued  by  the  foot  superficial,  and  with  reference  to  the 
quantity  of  stuff  required  or  worked  up.  Any  planing  that 
may  have  been  necessary,  and  it  will  happen  at  times  on 
beams,  joists,  &e.  when  it  is  not  intended  to  have  a ceiling 
under  the  floor,  is  charged  by  the  foot  on  the  surface,  and 
any  beading  or  other  moulding  by  the  foot  running. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a superficial  quantity  for  la- 
bour and  nails  on  framed  timber  cannot  be  obtained;  in 
that  case  the  timber  is  measured  by  the  cubic  foot  as 
framed,  or  with  the  labour  of  framing  included  with  its 
own  cost,  &c.  In  this  case,  however,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  a distinction  between  one  quantity  and  another,  as 
the  labour  employed  upon  an  equal  quantity  of  stuff  in 
framing  some  parts  of  a roof  is  much  greater  than  is  re- 
quired in  most  floors.  Many  things,  such  as  strong  door 
and  window  frames,  that  are  to  be  worked  into  the  walls, 
story-posts,  brestsummers,  &c.  are  always  taken  as  framed 
timber,  with  any  addition  that  may  occur  of  wrought,  re- 
bated, beaded,  &c.  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  price  or  value  to  be  attached  to  the  varieties  of 
carpenter’s  work  depends  almost  as  much  on  the  texture  or 
hardness  of  the  timber  employed,  as  on  its  cost.  What  the 
timber  itself  should  be  charged  at  may  be  thus  determin- 
ed. To  its  price  in  the  gross  at  the  timber  merchant’s 
must  be  added  the  cost  of  carriage  to  the  spot  where  it  is 
to  be  employed,  which  will  be  so  much  the  load  of  fifty 
cubic  feet,  or  so  much  per  foot ; then  to  the  cost  of  each 
cubic  foot  of  timber  add  the  price  of  four  superficial  feet 
of  sawing,  which  will  form  a fair  average  for  the  variously 
sized  scantlings,  and  one  eighth  of  the  increased  amount 
to  it  as  an  allowance  for  waste  in  cutting  up  and  working. 

This  gives  the  actual  cost,  to  the  builder,  of  the  timber  as 
it  is  worked  up ; and  if  it  is  to  be  charged  as  with  no  la- 
bour, his  profit  and  a remuneration  for  his  own  labour  of 
superintending,  &c.  alone  remain  to  be  included.  If,  how- 
ever, labour  of  any  kind  is  to  be  charged  with  the  stuff,  it 
should  be  added  first,  and  the  builder’s  profit,  &c.  takeh 
on  both,  or  on  the  increased  amount  for  the  price  per  foot. 

The  cost  of  labour  depends  so  much  upon  such  a variety 
of  circumstances,  that  it  is  impossible  to  aid  the  inquirer 
materially  in  apportioning  prices  for  the  various  opera- 
tions. In  this,  as  in  other  things,  it  is  well,  when  the 
parties  are  not  otherwise  qualified  to  determine  a scale  of 
charges,  to  observe  the  time  a man  or  a certain  number 
of  men  are  employed  in  executing  so  much  work  of  a cer- 
tain description,  and  compare  the  quantity  by  measure- 
ment with  the  time  employed  in  executing  it,  or  rather 
with  the  wages  of  the  workmen  for  the  time.  In  fixing  a 
price  for  labour  in  carpenter’s  work,  the  size  of  the  timbers, 
and  the  heights  they  have  to  be  hoisted,  together  with 
such  scaffolding  and  machinery  for  hoisting  as  may  be  found 
necessary,  if  the  timbers  be  heavy,  and  the  height  and  ex- 
pense great,  must  be  considered.  As  the  timber  used  in 
shoring  is  not  consumed,  a charge  is  made  for  use  and  waste 
to  the  amount  of  one  third  of  its  value  if  it  be  much  cut  up, 
and  one  fourth  if  but  little,  in  addition  to  the  labour  of  set- 
ting up  and  taking  down,  whatever  that  may  be. 


Building. 




BUILDING. 


97 


Joiner. — The  principles  of  joinery  also  will  be  found  in 
an  article  under  that  head  in  another  part  of  this  work ; 
here  ^e  have  merely  to  do  with  the  modes  of  operation, 
and  the  tools  employed  by  the  workman,  together  with  the 
manner  of  estimating  or  determining  the  value  of  his  work. 

The  distinction  between  the  operations  of  the  carpen- 
ter and  the  joiner  is  shown  in  the  commencement  of  the 
preceding  section  on  the  trade  of  the  former.  A man  may 
be  a good  carpenter  without  being  a joiner  at  all;  but  he 
cannot  be  a joiner  without  being  competent,  at  least,  to  all 
the  operations  required  in  carpentry.  It  is,  indeed,  very 
truly  remarked  in  the  article  Joinery,  “ that  the  rough 
labour  of  the  carpenter  renders  him  in  some  degree  unfit 
to  produce  that  accurate  and  neat  workmanship  which  is 
expected  from  a modern  joiner but  it  is  no  less  true  that 
the  habit  of  neatness  and  the  great  precision  of  the  joiner, 
make  him  a much  slower  and  less  profitable  workman  than 
the  practised  carpenter,  in  works  of  carpentry. 

The  joiner  operates  on  battens,  boards,  and  planks,  with 
saws,  planes,  chisels,  gouges,  hatchet,  adze,  gimblets  and 
other  boring  instruments,  which  are  aided  and  directed  by 
chalked  lines,  gauges,  squares,  hammers,  mallets,  and  a 
great  many  other  less  important  tools ; and  his  operations 
are  principally  sawing  and  planing  in  all  their  extensive 
varieties,  setting  out,  mortising,  dovetailing,  &c.  A great 
range  of  other  operations,  none  of  which  can  be  called  un- 
important, such  as  paring,  gluing  up,  wedging,  pinning, 
fixing,  fitting,  and  hanging,  and  many  things  besides  which 
depend  on  nailing,  &c.  such  as  laying  floors,  boarding 
ceiling,  wainscotting  walls,  bracketing,  cradling,  fiering, 
and  the  like.  In  addition  to  the  wood  on  which  the  joiner 
works,  he  requires  also  glue,  nails,  brads,  screws,  and 
hinges,  and  accessorily  he  applies  bolts,  locks,  bars,  and 
other  fastenings,  together  with  pulleys,  lines,  weights, 
white-lead,  holdfasts,  wall-hooks,  &c.  &c. 

Battens  are  narrow  boards  running  from  half  an  inch  to 
an  inch  and  a half  or  two  inches  thick,  and  from  three  to 
six  or  seven  inches  wide.  A piece  of  stuff  of  too  small  a 
scantling  to  be  a batten  is  called  a fillet.  The  term  board 
is  applied  to  sawed  stuff  when  its  width  exceeds  that  of  a 
batten,  and  its  thickness  does  not  exceed  two  inches  or 
two  inches  and  a half.  The  term  plank  is  applied  to  large 
pieces  of  stuff  whose  width  is  great  in  proportion  to  their 
thickness,  and  whose  thickness  nevertheless  does  not  ex- 
ceed three  or  four  inches.  In  London  these  terms  are 
used  in  much  more  restricted  senses  than  they  are  here 
described  to  mean,  because  of  the  fixed  and  regular  sizes 
and  forms  in  which  stuff  for  the  joiner’s  use  is  for  the  most 
part  brought  to  market  there.  A batten,  to  a London 
joiner,  is  a fine  flooring  board  from  an  inch  to  an  inch  and 
a half  in  thickness,  and  just  seven  inches  wide.  A board 
is  a piece  cut  from  the  thickness  of  a deal  whose  width  is 
exactly  nine  inches ; and  every  thing,  almost,  above  that 
width,  and  not  large  enough  to  be  called  a scantling  of 
timber,  is  a plank. 

The  joiners’  work  for  a house  is  for  the  most  part  pre- 
pared at  the  shop,  where  every  convenience  may  be  sup- 
posed to  exist  for  doing  every  thing  in  the  best  and  readi- 
est manner;  so  that  little  remains  to  be  done  when  the 
carcass  is  ready,  but  fit,  fix,  and  hang,  that  is,  after  the  floors 
are  laid.  The  sashes  and  frames,  the  shutters,  back  flaps, 
backs,  backs  and  elbows,  soffits,  grounds,  doors,  &c.  are  all 
framed  and  put  together,  that  is,  wedged  up  and  cleaned 
off,  at  the  shop;  the  flooring  boards  are  prepared,  that  is, 
faced,  shot,  and  gauged  with  a fillister  rebate;  and  all  the 
architraves,  pilasters,  jamb  linings,  skirtings,  mouldings, 
&c.  are  all  got  out,  that  is,  tried  up,  rebated,  and  moulded, 
at  the  shop. 

When  the  carcass  of  a building  is  ready  for  the  joiner, 
the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to  cut  the  bond  timber  out  of 


the  openings,  set  the  sash  frames,  and  fill  them  with  old  Building, 
sashes  or  with  oiled  paper  on  frames,  to  exclude  the 
weather,  but  admit  light.  The  flooring  joists  are  then 
proved  with  straight-edges,  and  any  inequalities  in  them  are 
removed  with  the  adze ; the  flooring  boards  are  next  cut 
down  to  their  places,  and  they  are  turned  with  their  faces 
downwards  until  the  ceilings  are  done;  but  first  the  pug- 
ging floors,  if  any  are  intended,  are  formed,  and  the  pugged 
clay  is  put  in  on  them.  Floors  are  in  ordinary  cases  either 
straight  joint  or  folding,  and  are  edge  or  face  nailed. 

Folding  floors  are  those  in  which  three,  four,  or  five  boards 
are  laid  at  a time,  with  their  heading  joints  all  on  the 
same  joist,  and  of  course  in  the  same  straight  line.  In 
laying  them,  one  board  being  tirmly  nailed  to  the  joists  at 
the  extremity  of  the  floor,  another  is  laid  parallel  to  it  at 
the  distance  of  the  width  of  three  or  four  others,  or  rather 
within  their  width,  and  these  are  then  forced  down  anct 
nailed,  the  forcing  having  brought  all  the  joints  up  close. 

This  is  a bad  mode,  however,  and  should  never  be  used. 

Straight  joint  flooring  is  when  every  board  is  laid  sepa- 
rately, or  one  at  a time,  the  heading  joint  or  joints  being 
broken  or  covered  regularly  in  every  case.  Straight  joint 
flooring  may  be  with  square  joints,  when  it  is  entirely  face 
nailed,  or  it  may  be  dowelled  or  tongued,  when  it  is  side  or 
edge  nailed  only.  Dowelling  is  the  driving  pins  of  wood 
or  iron  half  their  length  into  the  edge  of  the  last  laid 
board,  the  outer  edge  of  which  has  been  skew-nailed,  their 
other  ends  running  into  holes  prepared  for  them  in  the 
inner  edge  of  the  next  board,  in  the  way  the  head  of  a 
cask  is  held  together,  and  then  its  outer  edge  is  skew- 
nailed  in  the  same  manner,  and  so  on.  Tongueing  is  effect- 
ed by  grooving  both  edges  of  every  board,  and  fitting  thin 
slips  and  tongues  into  them,  as  described  in  the  article 
Joinery.  The  boards  are  forced  together  by  pressure 
applied  to  the  outer  edge;  wedges  with  iron  dogs  driven 
into  the  joists  are  commonly  used,  but  they  are  very  ob- 
jectionable instruments.  The  nail  used  in  face-nailing 
floors  is  called  a flooring  brad  ; it  has  no  head,  but  a mere 
tongue  projecting  on  one  side  of  the  top  of  the  nail,  which 
is  put  in  the  direction  of  the  grain,  that  it  may  admit  of 
being  punched  in  below  the  surface  level,  otherwise  the 
superficial  inequalities  could  not  be  reduced  when  the 
floor  was  completed,  because  of  the  projecting  heads  of 
the  nails.  For  side  or  edge  nailing,  however,  clasp-nails, 
nails  whose  heads  extend  across  on  two  of  the  opposite 
sides,  are  used. 

Another  early  operation  the  joiner  has  to  attend  to,  is  pj  CXI. 
the  fixing  of  the  framed  door  and  window  and  the  narrow 
skirting  grounds  (see  fig.  35)  to  which  the  plasterers  may 
float  their  work.  The  skirting  grounds  are  generally  dove- 
tailed at  the  angles,  and  are  well  blocked  out,  so  that  they 
may  not  vibrate  on  being  struck,  or  yield  to  pressure  when 
the  plasterer’s  straight-edge  passes  roughly  over  their 
surface;  they  must  also  be  set  with  the  utmost  truth  and 
precision.  When  the  floors  are  cut  down  and  the  grounds 
fixed,  the  joiner’s  operations  in  a building  should  be  sus- 
pended until  the  plasterers  have  finished,  or  nearly  so, 
and  then  the  floors  may  be  laid.  By  deferring  this  opera- 
tion until  that  period,  the  workmen  of  the  two  different 
trades  are  prevented  from  interrupting  each  other,  and 
indeed  injuring  each  other’s  work ; and  joiners  always  find 
employment  in  the  shop  preparing,  as  before  intimated. 

The  preparation  flooring  boards  receive,  is  planing  on 
the  face,  shooting  on  the  edges,  and  gauging  to  a thick- 
ness ; the  common  fillister,  or  stop  rebate  plane,  being 
used  to  work  down  to  the  gauge  mark,  from  the  back  of 
every  board,  and  about  half  an  inch  in  on  each  edge.  When 
a board  is  to  be  laid,  it  is  turned  on  its  face  in  the  place  it 
is  to  occupy,  and  the  workman  with  his  adze  cuts  away 
from  the  back  over  every  joist  down  to  the  gauge  rebate. 


98  BUI  L 

Building,  so  that  on  being  turned  over  it  falls  exactly  into  its  place, 

W'V' and  takes  the  same  level  with  all  its  fellows,  which  have 
been  brought  to  the  same  gauge  ; then  follows  the  process 
of  laying  as  before  described,  and  the  result  must,  if  the 
work  be  done  well,  be  a perfectly  even  and  level  surface. 
The  slight  inequalities  of  surface  which  may  occur  are 
reduced  with  a smoothing-plane,  the  brads  being  previous- 
ly punched  below  the  surface  if'the  door  be  face-nailed. 
See  the  article  Joinery,  sections  35  and  36. 

In  getting  out  skirtings,  if  the  work  be  of  a superior  de- 
scription, the  boards  should  be  tried  up  as  if  for  framing 
in  every  particular  except  bringing  to  a width,  which  need 
not  be  done.  The  face  edges,  however,  must  be  worked  with 
great  precision,  and  moulded  or  rebated  as  tbe  case  may  re- 
quire. Rebating  or  tongueing  will  be  necessary  when  the 
skirting  consists  of  more  than  one  piece,  that  the  different 
pieces  may  be  made  to  fit  neatly  and  firmly  together  ; and 
all  but  the  lowest  piece  must  of  necessity  be  brought  to  a 
width,  as  well  as  tried  up  in  other  particulars.  A skirting 
in  a single  width  is  called  by  that  term;  but  when  it  is  made 
up  of  more  than  one  part  it  is  designated  a base  : the  lowest 
board  is  then  called  the  skirting  board,  and  the  upper  the 
base  moulding  or  mouldings.  (Fig.  31  and  35.)  The  reason 
why  the  skirting  board  is  not  brought  to  a width  is,  that 
the  labour  would  be  lost  according  to  the  ordinary  mode  of 
fixing  it.  The  board  is  applied  to  its  place  with  its  lower 
edge  touching  the  floor ; but  as  the  most  perfectly  wrought 
floor  will  be  likely  to  have  some  slight  unevenness  of  surface 
so  close  to  the  wall,  a straight-edge  would  not  fit  closely 
down  it  in  every  part.  The  board  is  therefore  propped 
up  at  one  end  or  the  other  until  the  upper  or  faced  edge 
is  perfectly  parallel  with  the  average  line  of  the  floor,  or 
rather  to  be  perfectly  level.  A pair  of  strong  compasses, 
such  as  those  used  by  the  carpenter,  is  taken,  and  opened 
to  the  greatest  distance  the  lower  edge  of  the  skirting 
board  is  from  the  floor  throughout  its  length ; the  outer 
edge,  near  the  point  of  one  leg  of  the  compasses,  is  then 
drawn  along  the  floor,  whilst  the  point  of  the  other,  being 
kept  vertically  above  it,  is  pressed  against  the  face  of  the 
board,  on  which  it  marks  a line  exactly  parallel  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  floor,  indicating,  of  course,  every,  even  the 
slightest  irregularity  there  may  be  in  it.  If  the  floor  be 
not  a very  uneven  one,  the  excluded  part  may  be  ripped 
off  with  the  hand  or  the  panel  saw,  which  may  generally 
be  made  to  follow  the  traced  or  inscribed  line  exactly  ; 
if,  however,  the  line  be  a very  irregular  one,  having  quick 
turns  in  it,  the  hatchet  must  be  used.  This  operation  is 
called  scribing , and  the  result  of  it  is  evidently  to  make 
the  skirting  fit  down  on  the  floor  with  the  utmost  preci- 
sion. Care  must  be  taken,  in  performing  the  operation, 
that  the  upper  edges  of  the  skirtings  be  not  only  level, 
but  that  all  which  are  in  immediate  connection  be  scribed 
to  an  equal  height,  that  their  upper  edges  may  exactly 
correspond.  Sometimes  skirtings  are  let  into  a groove 
in  the  floor,  as  indicated  in  the  diagram,  fig.  35,  and  thus 
a slight  degree  of  shrinking  is  made  of  less  importance, 
and  scribing  rendered  unnecessary.  Before  skirtings  are 
fixed,  vertical  blocks  are  put  at  short  intervals,  extend- 
ing from  the  floor  to  the  narrow  grounds,  and  made  ex- 
actly flush  with  and  true  to  the  latter,  and  are  firmly 
nailed.  These  form  a sound  backing,  to  which  the  skirt- 
ings may  be  bradded  or  nailed;  and  so  prevent  them  from 
warping  or  bending  in  any  manner.  If,  however,  the 
skirting  be  not  very  wide,  and  be  sufficiently  stout  to 
stand  without  a backing,  a fillet  only  is  nailed  along  the 
floor  as  a stop  for  its  lower  edge ; but  this  is  rendered  un- 
necessary if  the  skirting  be  tongued  into  the  floor,  as  the 
tongue  will  answer  every  purpose  of  a stop.  The  ends 
of  skirtings  should  be  tongued  into  each  other  when  it  is 
necessary  to  piece  them  in  length ; and  on  returns  or  an- 


D I N G. 

gles  the  end  of  one  should  be  tongued  into  the  return-  Building, 
ed  face  of  the  other  in  the  square  parts,  and  mitred  in  the 
oblique-angled  or  moulded. 

When  a chair-rail  or  surbase  is  required,  grounds  simi- 
lar to  those  for  the  base  are  fixed  to  range  like  them  with 
the  face  of  the  plastering  ; the  surbase  itself  must  be  wide 
enough  to  cover  the  grounds  and  the  joints  formed  by 
them  and  the  plastering,  completely ; it  is  in  effect  a cor- 
nice to  the  stereobate  and  the  space  intervening  it,  and 
the  base  is  generally  understood  to  be  wainscotted,  though 
it  is  more  frequently  plastered. 

In  framing  or  framed  work,  the  outer  vertical  bars  which 
are  mortised  are  called  styles ; and  the  transverse,  those  on 
whose  ends  the  tenons  are  formed,  are  called  rails.  (Fig.  32.) 

In  doors,  particularly,  the  open  spaces  or  squares  formed 
internally  by  the  rails  and  styles  are  divided  in  the  width 
by  bars  parallel  to  the  styles.  These  are  tenoned  into  the 
rails,  and  are  called  mountings,  or,  vulgarly,  muntins.  The 
frame  being  formed  by  trying  up,  setting  out,  mortising, 
and  tenoning,  the  inner  or  face  edges  of  the  styles,  and  of 
the  highest  and  lowest  rails,  and  both  edges  of  the  muntins 
and  of  the  inner  rails,  are  grooved  with  the  plough  to  receive 
the  edges  and  ends  of  the  filling-in  parts,  or  panels  of  the 
frame-work.  Panels  are  either  flat,  raised,  or  flush.  (Fig. 

33.)  Flat  panels  are  no  thicker  than  the  grooves  into  which 
they  are  fitted,  and  consequently  their  faces  are  as  much 
below  the  surface  of  the  framing  as  the  groove  is  in  from 
each  side  of  the  styles  and  rails.  Raised  panels  are  thicker 
than  the  groove  in  the  framing,  but  are  not  so  thick  as  to 
reach  the  surface ; nor  is  the  panel  thickened  through  its 
whole  extent.  It  fits  exactly  into  the  groove,  and  thick- 
ens gradually  for  an  inch  or  two,  and  then  sets  off  at  a 
right  angle  with  the  surface,  increasing  suddenly  three  or 
four  sixteenths  of  an  inch.  A panel  may  be  raised  on  one 
side  only,  or  on  both  sides.  Flush  panels  are  rebated  down 
from  one  face  to  the  distance  the  plough  groove  is  in  from 
the  surface  of  the  framing ; and  the  back  of  a panel  thus 
rebated  on  one  side  is  worked  down  to  be  even  with  the 
other  edge  of  the  groove,  leaving  a tongue  to  fit  it  exactly  ; 
for  if  it  be  required  to  make  panels  flush  on  both  sides, 
it  is  generally  effected  by  filling  in  on  the  back  or  flatten- 
ed side  with  an  extraneous  piece.  Framing  is  not,  how- 
ever, often  finished  in  the  manner  above  described,  espe- 
cially with  raised  and  flush  pannels ; mouldings  are  gene- 
rally introduced,  and  are  either  struck  or  worked  in  the 
solid  substance  of  the  framing,  or  in  separate  pieces  or 
slips,  and  laid  in  with  brads.  If  a moulding  be  struck  or 
laid  in  on  one  side  only,  and  the  other  is  left  plain,  the 
framing  is  described  as  moulded  and  square,  a flat  panel 
being  in  that  case  understood  ; if  the  panel  be  raised  the 
framing  will  be  described  as  moulded  with  a raised  panel 
on  one  side,  and  square  or  flush  the  other.  It  may  be 
moulded  with  a flat  panel,  or  moulded  with  a raised  panel, 
on  both  sides ; and  the  moulding  may,  as  before  intimated, 
be  either  struck  in  the  solid,  or  laid  in  in  any  of  the  pre- 
ceding cases.  Mouldings  which  are  laid  in  round  the 
panels  of  framing  are  neatly  mitred  at  the  angles,  and 
bradded,  to  appear  as  much  as  possible  as  if  they  were 
struck  in  the  solid.  In  nailing  or  bradding  the  mouldings, 
the  brads  should  be  driven  into  the  frame-work,  and  not 
into  the  panels.  With  a flush  panel,  however,  the  mould- 
ing is  always  either  a bead,  or  a series  of  beads  called  reeds; 
and  is,  in  the  case  of  a single  bead,  which  is  most  com- 
mon, always  struck  on  the  solid  frame,  and  the  work  is 
called  bead-flush ; but  reeds  are  generally  struck  on  the 
panel  in  the  direction  of  the  grain,  and  laid  in  on  the  panel 
across  it,  or  along  the  ends ; this  is  termed  reed-flush.  Flush 
panels  in  inferior  works  have  a single  bead  struck  on  their 
sides  in  the  direction  of  the  grain  alone,  the  ends  abutting 
plainly,  as  in  the  first  diagram  of  a flush  panel,  and  this  ia 


BUILDING,  99 


Building,  termed  bead-butt,  the  fact  that  the  panels  are  flush  being 
‘-''A-'""''  inferred.  The  plainest  quality  of  framing,  in  which  it  is 
square  on  both  sides,  is  used  in  the  fittings  of  inferior 
bed-rooms,  inner  closets,  and  the  plainer  domestic  offices, 
but  always  internally;  framing  moulded  on  one  or  both 
sides,  in  rooms  and  places  of  a greater  degree  of  import- 
ance, and  in  places  where  the  work  may  be  more  gene- 
rally seen  ; in  some  cases  a flat  panel  may  be  enriched  by 
a small  moulding  laid  on  its  surface,  leaving  a margin  be- 
tween it  and  the  larger  moulding  at  its  extremities  ; this 
may  be  done  in  drawing-rooms  and  apartments  of  that 
class,  especially  if  they  be  in  an  upper  story ; and  raised 
panels  should  be  confined  to  the  framed  fittings  of  dining- 
rooms and  other  apartments  on  a ground  or  principal  story. 
Framing  with  flush  panels  is  almost  restricted  to  external 
doors,  &c.  one  side  of  a door  being  bead-flush,  and  the 
other  flat  and  moulded,  perhaps,  or  the  face  may  be  mould- 
ed with  a raised  panel,  and  the  back  bead-flush ; and  this  for 
principal  entrances.  Bead-butt  framing  is  found  in  exter- 
nal doors  to  offices,  &c.  Doors  are  made  four  panelled  for 
the  most  part  when  the  panels  are  flat  and  the  framing 
square,  six  panelled  when  the  latter  is  moulded,  and  six, 
eight,  or  even  ten  panelled  when  the  framing  is  of  the  su- 
perior descriptions.  Doors  which  are  hung  in  two  equal 
widths  to  occupy  the  doorway,  and  are  hung  to  the  oppo- 
site side  posts  or  jambs  of  the  frame,  are  said  to  be  double 
margined ; that  is,  the  styles  or  margins  are  repeated  ne- 
cessarily in  the  middle  where  they  meet.  Doorways  are 
fitted  with  jamb  linings,  and  architraves  or  pilasters.  Jamb 
linings  may  be  framed  to  correspond  with  the  door  on  the 
outer  faces ; and  when  they  exceed  nine  or  ten  inches  in 
width  they  should  always  be  so,  or  they  may  be  solid. 
Narrow  and  plain  jamb  linings  to  inferior  rooms  are  re- 
bated on  one  side  only,  and  the  rebate  forms  the  frame 
into  which  the  door  is  fitted.  To  superior  work  they  are 
rebated  on  both  sides,  as  if  it  were  intended  to  put  a door 
on  each  side.  The  jambs  are  fixed  to  the  inner  edges  of 
the  grounds;  and  if  they  are  wide,  and  not  framed,  back- 
ings are  put  across  to  stiffen  them  ; and  these  backings  are 
dovetailed  into  the  edges  of  the  grounds.  Architraves  and 
pilasters  are  variously  sunk  and  moulded,  according  to  the 
fancy  of  the  designer.  They  are  fixed  to  the  grounds  with 
their  internal  edges  exactly  fitting  to  the  rebates  in  the 
jambs,  and  they  form  the  enriched  margin  or  moulding  of 
the  frame  in  which  the  door  is  set.  Architraves  are  mi- 
tred at  the  upper  angle,  but  pilasters  have  generally  a con- 
sole or  an  enriched  block  or  cap  resting  on  them,  to  which 
they  fit  with  a square  joint;  both  the  one  and  the  other 
either  run  down  and  are  scribed  to  the  floor,  or  rest  on 
squared  blocks  or  bases,  which  may  be  the  height  of  the 
skirting  board,  or  of  the  whole  base. 

The  parts  of  the  outside  frame  of  a sash  are  distin- 
guished by  the  terms  applied  to  the  similar  parts  of  com- 
, mon  framing.  The  upright  sides  are  styles,  and  the  trans- 
verse or  horizontal  ones,  which  are  tenoned  into  the  ends 
of  the  styles,  are  rails;  but  the  inner  frame-work  or  divi- 
sions for  the  panes  are  called  merely  upright  and  cross 
bars ; the  upright  being  the  mortised,  and  the  cross  bars 
the  tenoned,  nevertheless,  as  with  the  outer  frame-work. 
(Fg.  31.)  Sashes  are  got  out  like  common  framing;  the 
parts  are  tried  up,  set  out,  mortised  and  tenoned,  exactly 
in  the  same  manner,  allowance  being  made  in  the  length 
of  the  rails  and  all  tenoned  pieces,  in  the  setting  out,  as  in 
common  framing  also,  for  the  portions  of  the  mortised 
styles  and  upright  bars,  which  are  worked  away  in  forming 
the  moulding  and  rebate.  The  meeting  rails  of  sashes 
which  are  in  pairs,  to  be  hung  with  lines,  are  made  thicker 
than  the  other  parts  by  the  thickness  of  the  parting  bead, 
and  they  are  bevelled  or  splayed  off,  the  one  from  above  and 
the  other  from  below,  that  they  may  meet  and  fit  closely. 


When  the  frame-work  is  completed,  although  it  cannot  be  Building, 
put  together  because  of  what  has  just  been  referred  to, 
the  rebate  is  formed  by  the  sash  fillister  on  the  further 
part  of  the  face  edge,  and  the  moulding  struck  on  its  hither 
angle.  These  things  being  done,  the  moulded  edges  are 
either  mitred  or  scribed  at  the  shoulders  and  haunches, 
and  the  sash  may  be  put  together.  If  sash  bars  are  mi- 
tred at  the  joints  they  require  dowels  in  the  cross  bars  to 
act  as  tenons ; but  if  they  can  be  scribed,  dowelling  is  r.ot 
required.  Sashes  are  either  fixed  or  hung  with  hinges,  or 
with  lines,  pulleys,  and  weights.  Fixed  sashes  are  put  into 
frames,  of  which  every  part  may  be  solid  but  the  stop, 
which  must  be  put  in  behind  the  sash  to  detain  it.  Sashes 
hung  with  hinges  require  solid  rebated  frames;  but  there 
can  be  no  stops  to  them  except  their  own  movable  fasten- 
ings, and  the  outer  stop,  which  of  course  the  rebate  fur- 
nishes. Sashes  hung  with  lines  require  cased  frames  to 
receive  the  pulleys  and  weights.  The  sill  of  the  frame  is 
made,  as  in  the  former  cases,  solid,  is  sunk  and  weathered, 
and  is  generally  made  of  a more  durable  material  than  the 
rest  of  the  frame  ; the  sides  in  the  direction  of  the  thick- 
ness of  the  frame  are  of  one  and  a quarter  or  one  and  a 
half  inch  board,  very  truly  tried  up,  and  grooved  to  receive 
a parting  bead ; for  it  must  be  obvious  that  sashes  hung 
with  lines  to  run  vertically  up  and  down  within  the  height 
of  the  frame  must  be  themselves  in  two  heights,  and  must 
pass  each  other  in  two  separate  and  distinct  channels.  The 
ends  of  these  boards  are  fixed  into  the  upper  face  of  the 
solid  sill  below,  and  into  a similar  board  parallel  to  the  sill 
which  forms  a head  above,  and  they  are  called  pulley  pieces, 
or  styles,  because  they  receive  the  pulleys,  which  are  let 
into  them  near  their  upper  ends.  Linings  from  four  to  six 
inches  in  width,  and  from  three  fourths  of  an  inch  to  an 
inch  in  thickness,  are  nailed  on  to  the  edges  of  the  pulley 
pieces,  and  to  the  sill  and  head  above  and  below,  inside  and 
outside  in  the  direction  of  the  breadth  of  the  sash  frame, 
and  are  returned  along  the  head  in  the  direction  of  its 
length.  The  outside  linings  are  made  to  extend  within 
the  pulley  pieces  about  half  an  inch,  to  form  a stop  for  the 
upper  and  outer  sash ; and  the  inside  linings  are  made 
exactly  flush  with  their  inner  faces.  The  casing  is  com- 
pleted by  fixing  thin  linings  on  to  the  outer  edges  of  the 
outside  and  inside  linings,  parallel  to  the  pulley  pieces,  to 
prevent  any  thing  from  impeding  the  weights.  Thin  slips 
called  parting  beads  are  fitted  tightly  into  the  grooves 
previously  noticed  in  the  pulley  pieces,  but  they  are  not 
fixed,  as  the  upper  sash  can  be  put  in  or  taken  out  only 
by  the  temporary  removal  of  the  parting  bead.  An  out- 
er or  stop  bead  is  mitred  round  on  the  inside  to  complete 
the  groove  or  channel  for  the  lower  sash ; the  stop  bead 
covers  the  edge  of  the  inside  linings  on  the  sides  and  head, 
and  is  fixed  by  means  of  screws,  which  may  be  removed 
without  violence  when  it  is  required  to  put  in  or  take  out 
the  sashes.  A hole  covered  with  a movable  piece,  large 
enough  to  allow  the  lead  or  iron  weight  to  pass  in  and  out, 
is  made  in  each  of  the  pulley  pieces,  so  that  the  sashes  may 
be  hung  after  the  frames  are  set,  and  to  repair  any  accident 
that  may  occur  to  the  hangings  in  after-use.  (Fig.  34.) 

It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  sash-frames  require  greater 
truth  and  precision  from  the  workman  than  any  thing  else  in 
the  joiner’s  work  of  a building ; and  unless  the  stuff  em- 
ployed be  quite  sound  and  perfectly  seasoned,  all  the  work- 
man’s care  in  operating  will  be  thrown  away.  The  fittings 
of  a window  which  has  boxed  shutters  consist  of  back 
linings,  grounds,  back,  elbows  and  soffit,  together  with 
shutters  and  back  flaps,  and  architraves  or  pilasters  round 
on  the  inside  to  form  a moulded  frame.  (Figs.  31  and  34.) 

Back  linings  are  generally  framed  with  flush  panels  ; they 
fit  in  between  the  inside  lining  of  the  sash  frame  and  the 
framed  ground,  to  both  of  which  they  are  attached,  and 


100 


BUILDING. 


Building,  form  the  back  of  the  boxing  into  which  the  shutters  fall 
back.  They  are  tongued  into  the  inside  lining  by  their  inner 
edge,  and  on  their  outer  edge  the  ground  is  nailed,  and  they 
are  set  at  right  angles  to  the  sash-frame,  or  obtusely  out- 
wards, as  the  shutters  may  be  splayed  or  not.  The  back  is 
the  continuation  of  the  window  fittings  from  the  sash-sill  to 
the  floor  on  the  inside  ; the  elbows  are  its  returns  on  either 
side  under  the  shutters,  and  the  soffit  is  the  piece  of 
framing  which  extends  from  one  side  of  the  window  to  the 
other,  across  the  head,  the  width  or  extent  of  the  shutters. 
These  are  all  framed  to  correspond  with  the  shutters  on 
the  face ; but,  as  they  are  fixed,  their  backs  are  left  un- 
wrought. Window  shutters  are  framed  in  correspondence 
with  the  door  and  other  framed  work  of  the  room  to  which 
they  belong,  in  front,  and  generally  with  a flush  panel  be- 
hind : the  back  flaps  are  in  one  or  two  separate  breadths 
to  each  shutter,  according  to  the  width  of  the  window  and 
the  depth  of  the  recess;  they  are  made  lighter  than  the 
shutters  themselves ; and  they  should,  when  shut  to,  pre- 
sent faces  exactly  corresponding  with  those  of  the  shut- 
ters, both  internallyand  externally.  The  shutters  are  hung 
to  the  sash-frame  with  butt  hinges,  and  the  back  flaps  are 
hung  to  their  outer  styles  with  a hinge  called  a back  flap, 
from  its  use.  The  shutters  and  their  back  flaps  are  hung 
in  one,  two,  or  more  heights,  as  maybe  found  convenient. 
The  moulded  margin  round  the  boxings  of  a window  on 
the  inner  face  are  made  to  harmonize  generally  with  the 
similar  parts  of  the  doors  of  the  room  or  place  to  which  it 
belongs.  The  fixing  and  hanging  of  window  fittings  or 
dressings  are  hardly  less  important,  for  the  accuracy  re- 
quired, than  the  making  and  fixing  of  the  sash-frame  itself; 
the  slightest  infirmity  or  inaccuracy  in  any  part  will  be 
likely  to  derange  some  important  operation.  Sashes,  it  may 
be  remarked,  are  never  fitted  until  the  frames  are  immov- 
ably fixed,  so  that  if  there  be  any  inaccuracy  in  the  latter, 
the  sashes  are  cut  away  or  pieced  out  to  make  them  fit ; 
but,  as  they  are  intended  to  traverse,  the  fitting  in  that  case 
can  only  apply  to  one  particular  position,  and  in  every  one 
but  that  there  must  be  something  wrong.  Any  incorrect- 
ness in  the  sash-frame,  again,  must  throw  the  shutters 
and  their  back  flaps  out;  indeed  the  sash-frame,  though 
apparently  a secondary  part  of  the  arrangement,  is  that 
which  affects  all  the  rest  beyond  anything  else.  When 
sashes  have  been  fitted,  a plough  groove,  wide  and  d&ep 
enough  to  receive  the  sash-line,  is  made  in  the  outer  edges 
of  the  styles,  for  about  two  thirds  of  their  length,  at  their 
upper  ends.  They  are  then  primed  and  glazed,  and  when 
the  putty  is  sufficiently  set  the  joiner  hangs  them.  He 
is  furnished  with  sash-line,  tacks,  and  iron  or  lead  weights, 
which  are  generally  made  cylindrical,  with  a ring  at  one 
end,  to  which  the  line  may  be  attached.  A sash  is  weighed, 
and  two  weights  are  selected  which  together  amount  to 


within  a few  ounces  of  the  same  gravity.  The  line  is  then 
passed  through  the  pulley,  which  was  previously  fixed  in 
the  pulley  style ; the  end  is  knotted  to  a weight  which  is 
passed  in  at  the  hole  left  for  the  purpose,  and  at  a suffi- 
cient distance,  which  a common  degree  of  intelligence  will 
readily  determine;  the  line  is  cut  off  and  the  end  tacked 
into  tlie  groove  in  the  style  of  the  sash. 

Glue  is  used  principally  in  putting  framed  work  toge- 
ther, but  not  at  all  in  fixing ; and  even  for  the  former  pur- 
pose it  is  much  less  used  by  good  workmen  than  by  infe- 
rior ones.  When  the  stuff  is  well  seasoned,  and  the  trying 
up,  setting  out,  mortising,  and  tenoning,  are  well  and  ac- 
curately executed,  there  is  no  necessity  for  glue  on  the 
tenons  and  shoulders ; the  wedges  alone  need  be  glued,  to 
attach  them  to  the  sides  of  the  tenons,  that  their  effect 
may  not  depend  on  mere  compression.  Joiners  are  gene- 
rally furnished  with  a cramp,  with  which  to  force  the 
joints  of  framing  into  close  contact;  it  is  either  of  wood 


acting  by  means  of  wedges,  or  of  iron  with  a screw.  This,  Building, 
too,  is  unnecessary  with  good  work,  every  joint  of  which  v— 
may  be  brought  perfectly  close  without  great  violence  of 
any  kind.  The  cramp  will  sometimes  give  bad  work  the 
semblance  of  good,  but  it  cannot  make  it  really  so.  If 
any  cracking  and  starting  be  heard  in  the  joiners  work  of 
a new  building,  it  generally  indicates  one  of  two  things; 
either  the  cramp  has  been  required  in  putting  the  fram- 
ing together,  or,  having  been  put  together,  it  has  been 
forced  out  of  winding  in  fixing,  and  the  constrained  fibres 
are  seeking  to  regain  their  natural  position.  A good 
workman  does  not  require  a cramp,  nor  will  his  work,  if 
he  has  been  supplied  with  seasoned  stuff,  ever  require  to 
be  strained ; and  consequently  the  cracking  and  starting 
of  joiner’s  work  indicates  unfit  stuff  or  bad  work,  or  per- 
haps both.  It  is  true  that  glued  joints  will  sometimes  fly ; 
but  when  they  do,  there  need  be  no  hesitation  in  deter- 
mining the  presence  of  both  bad  work,  and  stuff'  in  an 
improper  state. 

Floors  are  measured  and  valued  by  the  square  of  a 
hundred  superficial  feet ; but  any  thing  beyond  the  mere 
flooring,  such  as  the  mitred  borders  generally  put  as  a 
margin  to  the  stone  slab  of  a fire-place,  is  taken  extra  by 
the  foot  superficial,  or  running,  as  the  additional  work  may 
be  above  or  below  three  inches  in  width.  The  first  im- 
portant thing  to  note  in  measuring  a floor  is  the  thickness 
of  the  boards,  by  which  to  determine  the  cost  of  the  prin- 
cipal material.  A floor  of  boards  unplaned  on  the  face, 
and  shot  on  the  edges,  laid  folding,  is  the  roughest  that 
can  be  supposed;  with  the  boards  wrought  or  planed  on 
the  face,  and  laid  in  the  same  manner,  will  be  the  next  in 
advance;  and  straight  joint  flooring,  in  all  its  varieties,  is 
the  most  troublesome,  and  consequently  the  most  expen- 
sive in  common  and  general  use.  Whether  the  boards  be 
wide  or  narrow  is  a consideration  to  be  noted,  an  equal 
surface  being  of  course  more  rapidly  covered  with  wide 
than  with  narrow  boards ; whether  they  be  gauged,  and  if 
brought  to  a thickness  throughout,  or  only  rebate  gauged, 
and  cut  down  on  the  joints  with  the  adze;  in  what  man- 
ner the  heading  joints  are  formed  and  secured ; how  the 
longitudinal  joints  are  executed,  whether  square,  plough- 
ed and  tongued,  or  dowelled ; and  whether  the  boards  are 
face  or  edge  nailed.  Solid  frames,  as  for  outside  doors, 

&c.  are  measured  and  valued  by  the  cubic  foot,  labour 
being  calculated  upon  the  stuff  according  to  the  nature 
and  extent  of  what  may  have  been  applied  to  it. 

With  trifling  and  unimportant  exceptions,  every  thing 
else  in  joiner’s  work  that  exceeds  three  inches  in  width 
is  taken  by  the  superficial  foot ; and  the  dimensions  are 
taken  on  the  finished  and  fixed  work,  so  that  allowances 
must  be  made  for  whatever  waste  may  have  been  of  neces- 
sity made.  The  stuff  worked  up  by  the  joiner  is  always 
supposed  to  have  been  in  planks  and  boards  a certain 
number  of  quarters  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  so  that  what- 
ever the  finished  work  may  stand,  it  is  taken  as  of  the  thick- 
ness which  in  quarters  of  an  inch  it  is  next  below ; thus, 
if  the  styles  of  a door  stand  at  even  less  than  an  inch  and 
seven  eighths,  it  is  taken  as  a two-inch  door;  for  a piece 
of  framing  is  always  considered  to  be  of  the  thickness  of 
its  outer  frame-work,  the  description  determining  the  sub- 
stance of  the  panels.  Framed  grounds  are  measured  round 
on  the  outside  for  the  length ; their  width  is  not  that  of 
the  frame,  but  of  the  styles  and  head  as  they  actually  are ; 
and  their  thickness  that  of  the  stuff  before  it  was  planed 
at  all.  NarroAv  grounds  are  taken  by  the  foot  running, 
their  width  being  noted  in  the  description  of  them.  Jamb 
linings  are  measured  to  the  full  length  they  may  be  of  by 
their  width,  the  thickness  being  noted,  together  with  a 
description  of  the  work  on  them, — if  they  are  single  or 
double  rebated,  if  framed,  and  in  what  manner,  &c. 


BUIL 

Building.  The  dimensions  of  a door  are  generally  taken  within  the 

'“"“'/“""■''rebates  in  which  it  is  to  hang,  with  its  thickness  and  de- 
scription noted, — as  of  four,  six,  or  eight  panels,  mould- 
ed on  one  or  both  sides,  with  flat  or  raised  panels,  &c. ; 
if  it  be  double  margined,  that  is  stated,  and  the  amount 
of  the  lap  or  rebate  in  their  meeting  styles  is  added  to  the 
width,  to  increase  the  superficies  by  so  much.  The  hinges 
with  which  a door  is  hung,  and  the  lock  or  other  fasten- 
ings which  may  be  on  it,  are  taken,  with  a description  of 
their  sizes  and  qualities,  immediately  after  the  door  itself. 
If  sashes  are  in  a solid  frame  they  are  taken  alone,  but 
sashes  in  cased  frames  are  measured  in  and  with  the 
frames.  To  the  clear  height  between  the  sill  and  the 
head,  three  inches  are  added  for  the  thickness  of  the  sill, 
and  four  inches  for  the  depth  of  the  case  at  the  head,  for 
the  height;  and  to  the  width  between  the  pulley-styles  is 
added  eight,  nine,  or  ten  inches,  as  the  case  may  be,  for 
the  breadth  of  the  casing  on  each  side,  for  the  width; 
these  give  the  superficies  of  the  sashes  and  frame.  The 
sashes  and  frame  are  described,  with  the  thickness  of  the 
former,  which  determines  that  of  the  latter ; the  sill  is 
described  as  sunk  or  merely  weathered ; the  pulley-styles 
as  of  such  a thickness ; the  pulleys,  line,  and  stuff  employ- 
ed in  the  different  parts  of  the  frame  as  of  such  and  such 
qualities  and  sorts ; and  whether  the  sashes  be  single  or 
double  hung,  with  what  fastenings,  &c.  The  boxings  for 
the  shutters  are  taken  in  a superficial  quantity,  as  square 
or  splayed,  if  circular  on  plan,  whether  with  a flat  or 
quick  sweep,  or  if  circular  headed,  and  straight  on  plan. 
The  back  linings,  the  backs,  elbows,  and  soffits,  the  shut- 
ters and  the  back  flaps,  are  all  measured  by  the  super- 
ficial foot,  according  to  their  thicknesses  and  descriptions, 
the  hinges  and  fastenings  of  the  shutters  and  back  flaps 
being  numbered  and  noted  independently  of  them.  The 
capping  to  backs  is  taken  by  the  running  foot ; and  elbow 
cappings  are  numbered.  Moulded  architraves  are  taken 
superficially,  the  length  by  their  girt,  or  by  the  run  at 
such  a girt.  Skirtings  are  measured  superficially  at  such 
a thickness,  as  scribed  or  tongued,  as  square  or  moulded, 
or  rebated  for  base  moulding,  as  the  case  may  be.  Base 
and  surbase,  and  indeed  all  other  moulding  which  girds  at 
four  inches  and  above,  should  be  taken  superficially;  and 
mouldings  which  are  of  less  girt  may  be  taken  by  the  run 
if  they  be  taken  independently  of  the  other  work,  or  that 
to  which  they  belong,  at  all.  A moulding  projecting  from 
the  face  of  the  work  to  which  it  belongs  may  be  assumed 
as  independent  of  it ; whereas  a receding  one,  if  it  be  small, 
will  merely  add  the  character  of  moulded  to  the  work, 
and  if  large  will  qualify  all  in  immediate  connection  with 
it  to  be  taken  as  a superficial  quantity  of  moulding.  All 
circular  work,  or  work  which  diverges  from  a straight  line, 
is  noted  and  charged  proportionally  to  the  additional  la- 
bour and  waste  of  stuff  involved ; the  shorter  the  radius 
of  the  arc,  or  quicker  the  sweep,  the  higher  must  be  the 
proportioned  charge.  Things  which  have  been  bent  to 
their  fleeted  form  are  less  costly  in  proportion  than  those 
which  must  have  been  worked  in  the  solid  or  glued  up  in 
thicknesses. 

Stairs  are  measured  by  the  superficial  foot,  the  length 
of  one  step  being  taken  by  the  breadth  of  a step  and  riser, 
increased  by  once  the  thickness  of  the  former  for  a quantity, 
and  this  multiplied  by  the  number  of  steps  there  may  be  of 
the  same  kind ; that  is,  when  the  steps  are  flyers ; for  in 
winding  steps  the  treads  and  risers  are  taken  in  separate 
dimensions,  for  greater  accuracy.  The  thicknesses  of  the 
steps  and  risers  are  noted,  as  well  as  the  mode  in  which 
they  are  worked ; they  have  either  rounded  or  moulded  nos- 
ings, are  housed  into  the  string,  or  have  returned  nosings, 
the  riser  being  mitred  to  the  string  or  to  cut  brackets  on 
the  ends  of  the  steps.  Curtail  ends  to  steps  are  numbered. 


DING.  101 

The  frame-work  or  bearers  on  which  the  stairs  rest  is  in-  Building, 
eluded  with  the  stairs  themselves.  String-boards  are  taken 
according  to  their  thickness  and  the  quantity  of  work  on 
them ; the  grooves  or  housings  in  them  are  numbered. 

The  capping  on  a close  string  is  taken  by  the  run ; but 
when  the  nosings  of  the  steps  are  returned,  the  strings 
are  said  to  be  cut ; and  if  there  are  any  cut  and  mitred 
blocks,  they  are  numbered.  Stair  skirting  is  taken  as 
raking  and  scribed,  and  as  straight,  circular,  ramped,  or 
wreathed,  by  the  foot  superficial ; wooden  balusters  are 
taken  by  the  run,  and  the  mortises  or  dovetails  in  which 
they  are  set  are  numbered ; newels  are  taken  by  the  run 
for  the  stuff  and  the  fixing,  and  the  turnings  on  them  are 
numbered.  Hand-rails  are  said  to  be  merely  rounded,  or 
moulded ; they  are  measured  by  the  running  foot ; and  a 
distinction  is  kept  up  between  the  straight,  the  circular, 
the  ramps,  the  wreaths,  and  the  scroll ; nuts  and  screws 
in  their  joints  are  numbered. 

All  sortS  of  framing,  whether  it  be  fixed  or  hung — all 
linings  above  three  inches  in  width — all  sorts  of  ledged 
work,  such  as  plain  doors  and  shutters,  partitions  in  lofts 
and  stables,  bracketing,  cradling,  &c. — must  be  measured 
superficially.  All  narrow  linings,  very  narrow  skirtings, 
staff  beads,  fillets,  water  trunks  and  spouts,  legs,  rails, 
and  runners  to  dressers,  groovings,  flutings,  reedings,  cap- 
pings, &c.  and  any  work  on  superficial  quantities  that 
does  not  pervade  the  whole,  but  is  in  itself  peculiar,  should 
be  taken  lineally,  or  by  the  running  foot.  Insulated  parts, 
such  as  short,  interrupted  grooves,  blocks,  pateras,  brack- 
ets, trusses,  cantilevers,  holes,  mortises  for  articles  taken 
lineally,  mitres  to  cornices,  heads  and  feet  to  flutes  and 
reeds,  &c.  are  numbered  and  charged  at  so  much  a piece. 
Ironmongery  goods  employed  by  the  joiner  are  numbered 
under  their  different  heads,  and  charged  as  fixed ; that  is, 
to  the  price  of  a lock  is  added  a charge  for  the  labour 
employed  in  fitting  and  fixing  it,  and  whatever  accessories 
it  may  have  required  which  are  not  included  in  its  own 
cost,  such  as  screws,  &c.  to  a rim  or  dead  lock.  To  the 
price  of  hinges,  however,  only  the  cost  of  screws  should 
be  added,  as  the  fixing  of  them  is  usually  included  in  hang- 
ing the  work  to  which  they  are  attached. 

The  cost  at  which  joiners’  work  can  be  executed  can  only 
be  determined  by  calculation  and  observation.  The  cost  of 
the  materials  employed  may  be  readily  determined  by  dis- 
secting a piece  of  work  and  reckoning  its  contents ; but  the 
labour  depends  on  so  many  contingencies,  that  very  accu- 
rate observation  indeed  is  necessary  to  determine  the  quan- 
tity that  may  have  been  required  to  produce  a certain  re- 
sult. In  carpenters’  work,  the  material  forms  the  principal 
part  of  the  charge ; but  in  joiners’  work  the  materials  are  for 
the  most  part  of  far  less  importance  than  the  labour  which 
has  been  expended  on  them.  The  stuff  employed  in  a 
sash  must  be  costly  indeed  to  amount  to  as  much  as  the 
labour  of  making  the  sash ; whereas,  in  most  doors,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  the  materials  may  cost  as  much 
as  the  labour. 

Sawyer. — The  labour  of  the  sawyer  is  applied  to  the 
division  of  large  pieces  of  timber  or  logs  into  forms  and 
sizes  to  suit  the  purposes  of  the  carpenter  and  joiner.  His 
working  place  is  called  a saw-pit,  and  his  almost  only  im- 
portant tool  a pit-saw.  A cross-cut  saw,  axes,  dogs,  files, 
compasses,  lines,  lamp-black,  black-lead,  chalk,  and  a rule, 
are  all  accessories  which  may  be  considered  necessary  to 
him. 

Unlike  most  other  artificers,  the  sawyer  can  do  abso- 
lutely nothing  alone : sawyers  are  therefore  always  in 
pairs ; one  of  the  two  stands  on  the  work,  and  the  other  in 
the  pit  under  it.  The  log  or  piece  of  timber  being  care- 
fully and  firmly  fixed  on  the  pit,  and  lined  for  the  cuts 
which  are  to  be  made  in  it,  the  top-man  standing  on  it, 


102 


BUILDING. 


Building,  and  the  pit-man  below  or  off  from  its  end,  a cut  is  com- 
Y-x—  menced,  the  former  holding  the  saw  with  his  two  hands 
by  the  handle  above,  and  the  other  in  the  same  manner 
by  the  box  handle  below.  The  attention  of  the  top-man 
is  directed  to  keeping  the  saw  in  the  direction  of  and  out 
of  winding  with  the  iine  to  be  cut  upon,  and  that  of  the 
pit-man  to  cut  down  in  a truly  vertical  line.  The  saw 
being  correctly  entered,  very  little  more  is  required  than 
steadiness  of  hand  and  eye  in  keeping  it  correctly  on 
throughout  the  whole  length.  It  is  the  custom  to  project 
so  much  of  the  log  over  the  first  transverse  bearer  as  can 
be  done  without  rendering  it  liable  to  vibrate  or  be  inse- 
cure; and  when  all  the  cuts  proposed  are  advanced  up  to 
that  bearer,  the  end  is  slightly  raised  to  allow  the  bearer 
to  be  passed  out  beyond  the  termination  of  the  advanced 
cuts.  The  advantage  of,  or  rather  the  necessity  for,  the 
movable  handle  at  the  lower  end  of  the  saw  is  now  evi- 
dent, the  top-man  removing  the  saw  readily  from  cut  to  cut 
from  above,  his  mate  having  merely  to  strike  the  wedge 
in  the  box  one  way  or  the  other,  to  fix  or  loosen  it. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  top-man  should  stand 
in  such  a manner  on  the  log  or  piece  operated  on,  that  a 
line  down  the  centre  of  his  body  shall  fall  exactly  upon 
the  line  of  the  cut  he  is  to  work  on,  and  be  as  exactly  per- 
pendicular to  it  and  to  the  plane  of  the  horizon.  He  must, 
therefore,  when  the  cut  is  near  the  outer  edge,  be  pro- 
vided with  a board  or  plank,  one  end  of  which  may  rest  on 
something  firm  at  a short  distance  from  the  log,  and  the 
other  on  or  against  it,  to  put  the  outer  foot  on,  and  so  keep 
himself  in  such  a position  that  he  may  always,  and  with- 
out constraint,  see  his  saw  out  of  winding,  and  so  that  a 
spectator  standing  on  the  fore  end  of  the  pit  may  see  the 
saw  an  imaginary  line  passing  down  the  centre  of  the 
workman’s  body,  and  the  line  of  the  cut  in  exactly  the 
same  vertical  plane.  The  labour  of  the  top-sawyer  should 
consist  solely  in  lifting  the  saw  up  by  the  handle  as  high 
as  his  arms  can  carry  it,  and  that  of  the  pit-man  in  draw- 
ing it  down  with  a slight  pressure  or  tendency  onward, 
sufficient  to  make  it  bite  into  the  timber  as  much  as  his 
strength  will  enable  him  to  make  it  cut  away.  The  only 
assistance  the  pit-man  should  give  in  lifting  the  saw  is  in 
holding  it  back  that  the  teeth  may  not  drag  against  the 
cut  in  the  ascent;  and  all  the  top-man  should  do  in  cut- 
ting downward  is  to  keep  the  teeth  steadily  and  firmly  in 
contact  with  the  part  to  be  eroded.  Good  workmen  may 
work  with  a narrower  or  closer  set  to  their  saw  than  bad 
ones  can,  though  the  wider  or  more  open  set  saw  is  more 
liable  to  make  bad  work.  It  works  more  slowly  and  con- 
sumes more  stuff  than  the  close  set;  but  it  is  not  so  likely 
to  hang  in  the  cut  with  the  unnecessary  pushing  up  of  the 
pit-man  and  jerking  down  of  the  other,  as  if  it  were  set 
more  closely.  A good  top-man,  nevertheless,  is  of  much 
more  importance,  though  he  be  badly  mated,  than  the  con- 
verse. Indeed  the  best  possible  pit-man  could  not  work 
satisfactorily  with  a bad  top-man,  and  therefore  the  latter 
is  always  considered  the  superior  workman,  and  on  him 
devolves  the  care  of  sharpening  and  setting  the  saw,  &c. 
In  the  operations  of  the  carpenter  and  joiner  much  de- 
pends on  the  manner  in  which  the  sawyers  have  perform- 
ed their  part.  The  best  work  on  the  part  of  the  carpenter 
cannot  retrieve  the  radical  defects  in  his  materials  from 
bad  sawing;  and  although  the  joiner  need  not  allow  his 
work  to  suffer,  bad  sawing  causes  him  great  loss  of  stuff 
and  immense  additional  and  otherwise  unnecessary  labour. 
Planks  or  boards,  and  scantlings,  on  coming  from  the  saw- 
pit,  should  be  as  straight  and  true  in  every  particular,  ex- 
cept mere  smoothness  of  surface,  as  if  they  had  been  tried 
up  on  the  joiner’s  bench ; and  good  workmen  actually  pro- 
duce them  so.  Saw-mills,  too,  by  the  truth  and  beauty 
with  which  they  operate,  show  the  sawyer  what  may  be 


effected ; for  though  he  can  hardly  hope  to  equal  their 
effect,  he  may  seek  to  approach  it. 

Sawyers’  work  is  valued  at  so  much  the  hundred  super- 
ficial feet ; the  sawing  on  a board  or  squared  scantling 
being  once  its  length,  by  a side  and  an  edge,  or  half  the 
amount  of  its  four  sides.  In  squared  timber,  however,  it 
is  generally  valued  at  so  much  per  load  of  fifty  cubic  feet, 
four  cuts  to  the  load,  any  cuts  exceeding  that  number 
being  paid  for  at  so  much  per  hundred  feet ; in  this  case 
the  length  of  the  cut  by  its  depth  gives  the  superficial 
quantity  of  sawing  in  it.  Pieces  again  of  determined  and 
equal  length  and  breadth,  such  as  the  deals  and  planks 
commonly  used  for  joiners’  work  in  this  country,  admitting 
of  a regulated  scale,  the  sawing  that  may  be  required  in 
them  is  valued  at  so  much  the  dozen  cuts. 

Modeller. — The  modeller  copies,  in  a solid  material,  the 
drawings  of  designs  which  may  have  been  prepared  for 
enrichments,  in  whatever  material  they  are  to  be  cast, 
whether  in  plaster,  in  metals,  or  in  composition  of  any 
kind,  for  the  plasterer,  smith,  or  decorator.  The  model  is 
made  in  a finely  tempered  and  plastic  clay,  or  in  wax ; and 
the  modeller  works  with  his  fingers,  assisted  by  a few  ivory 
or  bone  tools  for  finishing  off  neatly  and  sharply,  and  for 
working  in  parts  which  he  cannot  reach  with  his  fingers. 
He  is  generally  the  best  workman  who  can  do  most  to- 
wards producing  the  required  forms  with  his  fingers  un- 
assisted by  artificial  tools,  as  a greater  degree  of  ease  and 
freedom  almost  always  results  from  the  use  of  the  hands 
alone.  The  model  being  completed,  it  is  moulded,  that 
is,  moulds  are  made  fitting  it  exactly  in  every  part,  and 
fitting  exactly  to  each  other  at  the  edges,  and  in  these, 
casts  are  made  to  any  extent  that  may  be  required. 

The  modeller  having  some  pretensions  to  be  considered 
an  artist  rather  than  a mere  artificer,  he  is  for  the  most 
part  paid  according  to  his  merits  as  such,  rather  than  for 
so  much  time,  according  to  the  ordinary  mode  of  deter- 
mining the  value  of  artificers’  works. 

Carver  and  Gilder. — The  carver  is  strictly  an  indepen- 
dent artist,  whose  business  it  is  to  cut  ornaments  and  en- 
richments in  solid  and  durable  material,  such  as  wood  and 
stone,  so  that,  like  the  modeller,  he  must  be  paid  accord- 
ing to  the  taste  and  power  he  may  exhibit  in  his  works, 
rather  than  as  a common  artificer.  Carving  has,  however, 
been  in  a great  measure  superseded  by  modelling  and 
casting,  so  that  the  carver  is  hardly  known  in  economic 
building  except  in  connection  with  the  gilder.  Gilding 
■may  indeed  be  applied  to  castings  as  well  as  to  carvings ; 
but  the  former  being,  almost  as  a matter  of  course,  less 
sharp  and  spirited  in  their  flexures  and  details,  as  well  as 
less  firm  in  substance  than  the  latter,  castings  can  less  bear 
to  be  further  subdued  by  the  application  of  foreign  matters 
to  their  surfaces  than  carvings  may. 

Gilding  is  the  application  of  gold  leaf  to  surfaces,  which 
require,  however,  to  be  previously  prepared  for  its  recep- 
tion. The  work  is  first  primed  with  a solution  of  boiled 
linseed  oil  and  carbonate  of  lead,  and  then  covered  with 
a fine  glutinous  composition  called  gold  size,  on  which, 
when  it  is  nearly  dry,  the  gold  leaf  is  laid  in  narrow  slips 
with  a fine  brush,  and  pressed  down  with  a piece  of  cotton 
wool  held  in  the  fingers.  As  the  slips  must  be  made  to 
overlap  each  other  slightly,  to  insure  the  complete  cover- 
ing of  the  whole  surface,  the  loose  edges  will  remain  un- 
attached ; these  are  readily  struck  off  with  a large  sable 
or  camel-hair  brush,  fitted  for  the  purpose ; and  the  joints, 
if  the  work  be  dexterously  executed,  will  be  invisible. 
This  is  called  oil  gilding,  and  it  is  by  far  the  best  fitted 
for  the  enrichment  of  surfaces  in  architecture,  because  it 
is  durable,  and  is  easily  cleaned,  and  does  not  destroy  or 
derange  the  forms  under  it  so  much  as  burnished  gilding 
does.  This  latter  requires  the  work  to  be  covered  with 


Building. 


U I L D I N 


103 


Budding.  various  laminsE  of  gluten,  plaster,  and  bole,  which  last  is 
mixed  with  gold  size,  to  procure  the  adhesion  of  the  leaf. 
The  most  durable  mode  of  gilding  metals  in  common  use 
is  by  amalgamation. 

The  surfaces  generally  operated  on  by  the  gilder  are  so 
diverse,  that  the  real  value  of  his  work  can  be  determined 
satisfactorily  only  by  taking  his  time  and  the  materials 
employed  and  consumed  in  executing  a piece  of  work. 

Plumber. — Lead,  as  the  name  imports,  is  the  material 
in  and  with  which  the  plumber  operates.  The  previous 
preparation,  casting  and  milling  of  lead  into  sheets,  pipes, 
&c.  and  the  composition  and  uses  of  solder,  will  be  found 
described  under  the  head  Plumbery. 

The  principal  operations  of  the  plumber  are  directed  to 
the  covering  of  roofs  and  flats,  laying  gutters,  covering 
hips,  ridges,  and  valleys,  fixing  water  trunks,  making  cis- 
terns and  reservoirs,  and  laying  on  the  requisite  pipes  and 
cocks  to  them,  fixing  water-closet  apparatus,  setting  up 
pumps,  and  applying  indeed  all  the  hydraulic  machinery 
required  in  economic  building.  His  tools  are  knives,  chisels, 
and  gouges  for  cutting  and  trimming,  rasps  or  files  and 
planes  for  fitting  and  jointing,  a dressing  and  flatting  tool 
for  the  purposes  its  name  expresses,  iron  hammers  and 
wooden  mallets  for  driving  and  fixing,  ladles  in  which  to 
melt  solder,  grozing  irons  to  assist  in  soldering,  a hand- 
grate  or  stove  which  may  he  conveniently  moved  from 
place  to  place,  for  melting  solder  and  heating  the  grozing 
irons,  a stock  and  bits  for  boring  holes,  and  a rule,  com- 
passes, lines  and  chalk  for  setting  out  and  marking,  together 
with  weighing  apparatus,  as  the  quantities  of  most  of  the 
materials  used  by  the  plumber  must  he  either  proved  or 
determined  by  weight.  A plumber  is  always  attended  by 
a labourer,  who  does  the  more  laborious  work  of  carrying 
the  materials  from  place  to  place,  helps  to  move  them 
when  they  are  under  operation,  melts  the  solder  and  heats 
the  grozing  irons,  attends  to  hold  the  one  or  the  other,  as 
neither  may  be  set  down  or  put  out  of  hand  when  in  use, 
and  assists  in  some  of  the  minor  and  coarser  operations. 
In  boarding  roofs,  flats,  and  gutters  for  lead,  clasp-nails 
or  flooring  brads  should  be  used;  and  the  first  care  of  the 
plumber  should  be  to  punch  them  all  in  from  an  eighth  to 
a quarter  of  an  inch  below  the  surface,  and  stop  the  holes 
carefully  and  completely  with  putty,  or  a chemical  process 
will  ensue  on  the  slightest  access  of  moisture  if  the  iron 
heads  of  the  nails  come  in  contact  with  the  lead,  and  the  lat- 
ter will,  in  the  course  of  no  long  period,  be  completely  perfo- 
rated over  every  one  of  them.  Neither  should  lead  in  sur- 
faces of  any  extent  be  soldered,  or  in  any  manner  fastened 
at  the  edges,  without  being  turned  up  so  as  to  make  suffi- 
cient allowance  for  the  expansion  and  contraction  which 
it  is  constantly  undergoing  during  the  various  changes  in 
the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere.  It  may  be  taken,  in- 
deed, as  a general  rule,  that  solder  should  be  dispensed 
1 with  as  much  as  possible.  Like  glue  to  the  joiner,  it  is 
indispensable  in  many  cases ; but  like  glue  also,  it  is  in 
■ common  practice  made  to  cover  many  defects,  and  much 
bad  work,  that  ought  not  to  exist. 

Sheet  lead,  whether  cast  or  milled,  is  supplied  of  va- 
rious weight  or  thickness;  and  it  is  always  described  as 
of  such  a weight  in  pounds  to  the  superficial  foot.  This 
varies  from  four  to  ten  or  twelve,  so  that  the  weight  to 
the  foot  being  ascertained,  the  whole  weight  of  any  quan- 
tity of  the  same  thickness  may  be  determined  by  admea- 
surement. There  are  very  few  purposes,  indeed,  in  build- 
ing, in  which  lead  of  less  than  six  pounds  to  the  foot 
should  be  used,  and  very  few  in  which  the  weight  need 
to  exceed  ten.  For  roofs,  flats,  and  gutters,  under  or- 
dinary circumstances,  eight-pounds  lead  is  a very  fair 
and  sufficient  average;  for  hips  and  ridges,  lead  of  six 
pounds  to  the  foot  is  thick  enough ; and  for  flashings  five- 


pound  lead  need  not  be  objected  to.  Cast  lead  is  to  be  Building, 
preferred  for  the  former  purposes,  because  its  surface  is 
harder,  and  it  is  somewhat  less  susceptible  of  meteoric 
vicissitudes  than  milled ; but  the  latter  bends  better,  and, 
presenting  a neater  appearance,  may  be  preferred  for  hips, 
ridges,  flushings,  &c.  As  the  sheets  are  generally  made 
of  limited  length  and  breadth,  the  cast  being  about  six- 
teen or  eighteen  feet,  and  the  milled  from  the  latter  di- 
mension to  twenty-five  feet  in  length,  and  the  one  and 
the  other  seldom  exceeding  six  feet  wide,  to  avoid  solder- 
ing, the  lateral  joints  are  made  on  rolls,  and  longitudinally 
in  falls  or  drips.  A roll  is  a piece  of  wood  made  about 
two  inches  thick  and  two  or  three  inches  wide,  rounded 
on  one  edge,  and  fixed  with  that  edge  uppermost,  so  as  to 
come  a few  inches  within  the  width  of  a sheet  of  lead, 
that  the  edges  may  be  turned  up  and  folded  round  and 
over  it,  being  lapped  by,  or  lapping  the  similar  edge  of  the 
adjoining  sheet,  (Fig.  37.)  Lead  sufficiently  stout,  dressed 
neatly  and  closely  down  to  the  boards  under  it,  and  over 
the  rolls  at  its  edges,  will  require  no  fastening  of  any  kind, 
unless  it  lie  on  a very  inclined  plane,  and  have  no  stop  be- 
low. Rolls  occur  for  the  most  part  in  roofs  and  flats,  and 
drips  principally  in  gutters.  The  drip  is  formed  in  the 
first  instance  by  the  carpenter  in  laying  the  gutter  boards 
according  to  an  arrangement  with  the  plumber.  It  is  a 
difference  made  in  the  height  of  the  gutter  of  about  three 
inches,  where  one  sheet  terminates  in  length,  and  meets 
another  in  continuation.  The  end  of  the  lower  is  turned 
up  against  the  drip,  and  that  of  the  upper  is  dressed 
down  over  it,  so  as  effectually  to  prevent  water  from  driv- 
ing under  it.  Gutters  should  have  a current  of  at  least 
a quarter  of  an  inch  to  the  foot,  and  in  flats  it  should  not 
be  much  less ; ends  and  sides  which  are  against  a wall 
should  turn  up  against  it  from  five  to  seven  inches,  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances ; and  the  turning  up  under 
the  slates,  tiles,  or  other  roof  covering,  to  a gutter,  should 
be  to  the  level  of  that  against  the  wall  at  the  least.  The 
turning  up  against  the  wall  should  be  covered  by  a flash- 
ing. This  is  a piece  of  lead  let  into  one  of  the  joints  of 
the  wall  above  the  edge  of  the  gutter  lead,  and  dressed 
neatly  down  over,  to  prevent  water  from  getting  in  behind 
it.  (Fig.  36.)  Lead  on  ridges  and  hips  not  being  in  suffi- 
cient masses  to  be  secured  by  its  own  weight,  must  be  se- 
cured by  nails. 

In  making  cisterns  and  reservoirs,  unless  they  be  cast, 
the  sheets  of  lead  must  of  necessity  be  joined  by  solder- 
ing; but  the  water  they  are  intended  to  contain  protects 
the  lead  from  the  frequent  and  sudden  changes  it  is  in 
the  other  more  exposed  situations  subjected  to. 

Water  trunks  and  pipes  are  made  of  a certain  number 
of  pounds  weight  to  the  yard  in  length,  to  every  variety 
of  bore  or  calibre  that  can  be  required.  Water  trunks  or 
pipes  are  fitted  with  large  case  heads  above,  to  receive 
the  water  from  the  gutter  spouts,  and  with  shoes  to  de- 
liver the  water  below  ; they  are  fixed  or  attached  to  the 
walls  of  buildings  with  flan  ches  of  lead,  which  are  secured 
by  means  of  spike  nails.  Service  and  waste  pipes  to  cis- 
terns, &c.  are  generally  supported  and  attached  by  means 
of  iron  holdfasts. 

Plumbers’  work  is  for  the  most  part  estimated  by  the 
hundredweight  of  a hundred  and  twelve  pounds,  though 
there  are  of  course  many  things  which  must  be  taken  in 
detail,  by  the  pound  weight,  by  number,  and  even  by  size. 

It  has  been  already  shown  in  what  manner  the  quantity 
of  lead  consumed  may  be  determined,  whether  it  be  in 
sheets  or  in  pipes ; the  weight  per  superficial  foot  of  the 
one,  and  per  lineal  foot  or  yard  of  the  other,  being  known, 
and  it  is  always  ascertainable,  the  dimensions  of  the  vari- 
ous parts  or  portions  of  the  work  readily  give  the  total 
amount  in  hundredweights  or  tons.  The  waste  of  lead 


104  B U I L 

Building,  in  working  is  very  trifling,  as  cuttings  all  go  to  the  melt- 
mg  pot  again  with  little  or  no  loss  but  that  of  refounding 
or  casting ; and  even  old  lead  is  taken  by  the  lead  mer- 
chant in  exchange  for  new,  at  a very  trifling  allowance 
for  tare  and  the  cost  of  re-working.  Water  closet  appa- 
ratus, pumps,  cocks,  bosses,  ferules,  washers,  valves,  balls, 
grates,  traps,  funnels,  &c.  can  all  readily  be  counted  and 
noted  according  to  their  sizes  and  peculiarities;  and  so 
may  the  various  requisite  joints  in  pipes,  and  attachments 
of  cocks,  &c.  to  the  pipes,  which  must  also  be  taken  in 
addition  to  the  articles  themselves.  The  prices  of  all 
these  goods,  from  the  sheets  of  lead  and  the  pipes,  to  the 
smallest  articles  used  by  the  plumber,  may  be  ascertained 
from  the  wholesale  merchants  and  manufacturers ; an  ad- 
dition of  thirty  per  cent,  to  these  prime  costs  will,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  afford  the  builder  or  tradesman 
an  ample  profit,  and  payment,  with  sufficient  profit  on 
them  also,  for  labour,  solder,  and  nails,  excepting  cost  of 
carriage,  and  any  other  contingent  expense,  which  must 
be  added  to  the  gross.  The  materials  may,  however,  be 
taken  with  a recognized  profit  added  to  the  prime  costs 
and  the  actual  labour  expended ; and  solder  and  nails  work- 
ed up  may  be  reckoned  from  observation,  or  account  kept 
of  the  workmen's  time,  &c. 

These  things  are  mentioned  more  particularly,  because 
a nefarious  custom  has  obtained  in  this  country,  and  is 
still  allowed  to  a very  great  extent,  by  which  the  plumber 
is  permitted  to  take  not  only  an  extortionate  profit  on  his 
goods,  but  actually  to  charge  twice  for  labour  and  the  ac- 
cessories. There  is  nothing  more  common  than  to  find  in 
a plumber’s  account  a charge  for  lead  (meaning  sheet-lead) 
and  labour,  at  so  much  per  hundredweight, — charges  for 
pipe  of  a certain  bore  or  diameter  at  so  much  per  foot, — for 
so  many  joints  in  pipe  of  such  a size, — that  is,  for  the  labour 
and  solder  consumed  and  expended  in  making  them, — and 
so  on  through  all  sorts  of  things,  the  account  winding  up 
at  length,  or  being  interspersed  from  time  to  time,  with 
so  many  pounds  or  hundredweights  of  solder,  and  so  many 
days’  work  of  plumber  and  labourer  ! The  now  prevalent 
custom  of  artificers’  work  being  done  by  general  builders 
by  tender  and  contract,  has  considerably  lessened  the  in- 
jury to  the  public  from  this  abuse,  and  proved  it  to  be 
really  so  by  the  moderate  profits  the  same  men  will  con- 
tent themselves  with  if  they  make  a tender,  who  ^ould 
persist  in  charging  at  the  old  rate  if  they  were  instructed 
to  do  the  work  without  being  bound  by  a contract.  Such 
too  is  the  effect  of  custom  on  the  courts  of  justice  in 
England,  that  the  abuse  referred  to  has  been  protected  by 
them,  and  probably  would  be  so  still,  because  it  was  the 
custom  and  had  been  allowed  ! 

Smith  and  Founder. — The  goods  supplied  by  the  smith 
are  charged  by  the  pound  according  to  the  quantity  of 
labour  on  them,  and  the  founder  has  generally  an  average 
charge  for  iron  castings  at  so  much  per  hundredweight  or 
per  ton.  The  working  up  or  fitting  and  fixing  of  iron-work 
devolves  for  the  most  part  on  the  carpenter  in  whose 
favour  it  is  taken,  generally  however,  in  combination  with 
some  of  his  own  peculiar  works. 

Glazier. — The  business  of  the  glazier  may  be  confined 
to  the  mere  fitting  and  setting  of  glass ; even  the  cutting  of 
the  plates  up  into  squares  being  generally  an  independent 
art,  requiring  a degree  of  tact  and  judgment  not  neces- 
sarily possessed  by  the  building  artificer.  (See  the  arti- 
cles Glass,  Manufacture  of,  and  Glass-Cutting.)  The 
glazier  is  supplied  with  a diamond  cutting  tool,  laths  or 
straight-edges  of  various  lengths,  a square,  a glazing-knife, 
a hacking-knife,  hammer,  duster,  sash-tool,  and  rule  ; and 
his  materials  are  simply  glass,  putty,  and  priming  or  paint. 

The  glass  is  supplied  by  the  glass-cutter  in  squares  or 
panes,  of  the  sizes  and  qualities  required  for  the  parti- 


I)  1 N G. 

cular  work  to  be  executed.  The  putty  is  made  by  the  Building, 
glazier  himself  or  by  a labourer,  of  fine  clean  powdered 
chalk  or  whitening,  and  linseed  oil,  well  mixed  and  com- 
bined, and  kneaded  to  the  consistence  of  dough.  No  more 
putty  should  be  made  at  once  than  is  likely  to  be  worked 
up  in  the  course  of  a day,  as,  the  oil  drying  out,  it  becomes 
hard  and  partially  set,  and  is  therefore  less  available  for 
its  purposes.  Priming  is  a thin  solution  of  white,  with  a 
little  red,  lead  in  linseed  oil.  When  the  sashes  come  to 
the  glazier  from  the  joiner,  they  have  been  fitted  into  their 
places,  and  only  require  to  be  glazed  before  they  may  be 
permanently  set  or  hung.  Supposing  that  no  preliminary 
process  is  required,  such  as  stopping  (the  result  of  bad 
joiner’s  work)  and  knotting  (and  knotty  stuff'  should  not 
be  admitted  in  sashes),  the  sashes  require  to  be  primed. 

The  priming  is  laid  on  every  part  of  the  sash  except  the 
outer  edges  of  the  styles  and  of  the  bottom  and  top  rails, 
with  the  sash  tool  or  painting  brush,  that  is,  if  the  sashes 
are  intended  to  be  painted;  for  if  not,  the  rebates  only  must 
be  primed.  The  object  of  this  is  to  prepare  the  material 
of  which  the  sash  is  composed  for  the  reception  of  the  putty, 
which  would  not  otherwise  attach  itself  so  readily  as  it  does 
after  this  preparation.  The  priming  being  sufficiently  dry, 
the  workman  cuts  the  panes  of  glass  down  into  their  places, 
making  every  one  fall  readily  into  the  rebates  without  bind- 
ing in  any  part ; indeed  the  glass  should  fit  so  nicely  as  not 
to  touch  the  wood  with  its  edges  any  where,  and  yet  hard- 
ly allow  a fine  point  to  pass  between  it  and  the  sash-bar  or 
rebate,  the  object  being  to  encase  it  completely  in  putty, 
and  yet  that  the  putty  should  not  be  in  greater  quantity 
than  is  absolutely  necessary.  The  glass  being  fitted  or 
cut  down,  the  workman  takes  the  glazing-knife  in  his  right 
hand,  and  a lump  of  putty  in  the  palm  of  his  left,  the  sash 
being  laid  on  its  face,  that  is,  with  the  rebates  upward,  be- 
fore him  ; with  the  knife  he  lays  a complete  bedding  of 
putty  on  the  returning  narrow  stops  of  the  rebates,  all 
round  to  every  pane.  This  being  done,  the  panes  of  glass 
are  put  in  on  it  as  they  have  been  fitted,  and  every  one 
is  carefully  rubbed  down  with  the  fingers,  forcing  the  putty 
out  below  and  around  the  edges  of  the  glass,  until  they  are 
nearly  brought  into  contact  with  the  wood  or  other  mate- 
rial of  the  sash.  The  rebates  are  then  filled  in  with  putty 
behind,  the  mass  forming  exactly  a right-angled  triangle, 
its  base  being  the  extent  of  the  stop  of  the  rebate,  and  its 
perpendicular  the  depth  from  the  glass  to  the  outer  edge 
of  the  rebate  ; the  third  side  or  hypothenuse  is  neatly 
smoothed  off,  and  the  sash  being  then  turned  on  its  edge 
and  held  uprightly  by  the  left  hand,  the  protruded  putty 
of  the  bedding  is  struck  off  with  the  knife,  and  the  section 
of  it  neatly  drawn.  The  sashes  are  now  deposited  on  their 
faces,  to  allow  the  putty  to  set,  and  then  they  may  be  hung 
and  painted.  To  very  large  squares,  and  to  plate-glass, 
small  tacks  or  spuds  are  used ; but  it  is  much  better  to  do 
without  them  if  prudence  will  permit  it. 

Lead-work,  as  it  is  termed,  is  the  glazing  of  frames  rather 
than  of  sashes  with  small  squares  or  quarries  of  glass, 
which  are  held  together  by  reticulations  of  lead ; and 
these  are  secured  to  stout  metal  bars,  which  are  fixed  to 
the  window  frames.  The  leaden  reticulating  bars  are 
grooved  on  their  edges  to  receive  the  quarries,  and  are 
tied  by  means  of  leaden  ribands  or  wires  to  the  saddle 
bars,  which,  in  their  turn,  are  affixed  to  the  stouter  bars 
before  mentioned,  if  the  bay  or  frame  be  so  large  as  to  re- 
quire both. 

Glazing  is  valued  by  the  superficial  foot,  the  squares  or 
panes  being  measured  between  the  rebates  in  which  they 
are  set.  The  value  of  plate-glass  is  very  much  affected 
by  the  sizes  of  the  panes,  every  additional  inch  in  extent 
of  surface  adding  materially  to  the  cost  of  production  of 
the  whole  piece  or  plate ; it  must  therefore  be  carefully 


BUILDING. 


105 


Building,  noted  according  to  its  magnitude.  Common  window  glass 
is  divided  into  best,  seconds,  and  thirds,  and  is  charged 
higher  as  the  panes  increase  in  size,  because  for  large 
panes  the  table  cuts  to  waste  more  than  in  cutting  small 
ones.  In  ordinary  practice,  panes  containing  two  super- 
ficial feet  and  under  are  classed  together ; then  from  two 
feet  to  two  feet  six  inches,  and  so  on ; and  according  to 
the  quality  of  the  article.  Flatting,  bending,  grinding, 
staining,  &c.  are  all  subjects  of  separate  and  independent 
charge. 

Lead  lights  are  taken  by  the  superficies  generally  of  a 
hundred  feet,  lead  and  glass  being  included  in  the  same 
charge,  which,  however,  depends  on  the  size  of  the  quar- 
ries. Stay  and  saddle  bars  are  taken  separately,  accord- 
ing to  their  number  and  magnitude. 

Painter. — The  processes  of  economical  painting  will  be 
found  described  in  an  article  under  the  head  Painting. 
The  real  object  of  painting  is  to  protect  wood,  metals, 
and  stuccoes  from  being  readily  acted  upon  by  the  atmos- 
phere, by  covering  their  surfaces  with  a material  which  is 
capable  of  resisting  it.  A continued  succession  of  mois- 
ture and  dryness,  and  of  heat  and  cold,  soon  effects  the 
decomposition  of  woods,  causes  oxidation  in  most  of  the 
metals  used  for  economical  purposes,  and  destroys  the 
generality  of  stuccoes  if  their  surfaces  be  exposed  naked- 
ly to  it.  A solution  of  ceruse  or  white  lead  in  linseed  oil 
spread  over  them  prevents  these  injuries  in  a great  mea- 
sure, and  for  a considerable  period  of  time ; and  as  the 
application  of  such  an  unction  can  be  repeated  without 
much  trouble  or  expense  as  often  as  occasion  may  require, 
it  may  be  said  to  furnish  a protection  against  the  cited 
contingencies.  In  addition  to  the  utility  of  painting,  it  is 
also  available  as  an  ornament,  by  bringing  disagreeably  or 
diversely  coloured  surfaces  to  a pleasing  and  uniform  tint, 
or  by  diversifying  a disagreeable  monotony  of  tint,  to  suit 
the  taste  and  fancy;  and  this  is  done  in  a great  measure 
by  the  addition  of  various  pigments  to  the  solution  before 
mentioned. 

The  painter  works  with  hog’s  bristle  brushes  of  various 
sizes,  which,  with  the  exception  of  pots  to  hold  his  colours, 
a grinding  stone  and  grinder  or  muller  for  grinding  or  tri- 
turating them,  a pallet  and  a pallet  knife,  are  almost  his 
only  implements.  His  materials  are  comparatively  fewalso ; 
but  for  some  purposes  these  require  a great  variety  of  in- 
gredients, the  preparation  and  combination  of  which,  how- 
ever, devolves  principally  on  the  manufacturer  or  colour- 
man,  and  not  on  the  painter  himself. 

The  first  thing  the  workman  has  to  attend  to  in  paint- 
ing wood-work,  is  to  prepare  its  surface  for  the  reception 
of  paint,  by  counteracting  the  effect  of  any  thing  that  may 
tend  to  prevent  it  from  becoming  identified  with  the  ma- 
terial. Thus,  in  painting  pine  woods  of  any  kind,  the  resin 
contained  in  the  knots  which  appear  on  the  surface  must 
, be  neutralized,  or  a blemish  will  appear  in  the  finished 
work  over  every  resinous  part.  Inequalities  or  uneven- 
nesses of  surface,  too,  must  be  reduced  with  sand-paper 
or  pumice-stone,  or  made  up  with  putty.  The  necessary 
process  for  killing  knots,  just  referred  to,  will  generally 
leave  a film,  which  must  be  rubbed  down ; and  the  heads  of 
nails  and  brads  having  been  punched  in,  will  present  in- 
dentations, which  should  be  stopped.  In  painting  or  lay- 
ing on  the  colour,  the  brush  must  be  constantly  at  right 
angles  to  the  face  of  the  work,  only  the  ends  of  the  hairs, 
in  fact,  touching  it,  for  in  this  manner  the  paint  is  at  the 
same  time  forced  into  the  pores  of  the  wood  and  distri- 
buted equally  over  the  surface ; for  if  the  brush  be  held 
obliquely  to  the  work,  it  will  leave  the  paint  in  thick 
masses  wherever  it  is  first  applied  after  being  dipped  for 


a fresh  supply  into  the  pot,  and  the  surface  will  be  daub-  Building, 
ed  but  not  painted.  Painting,  when  properly  executed,  ''—'y-w 
will  not  present  a shining,  smooth,  and  glossy  appearance, 
as  if  it  formed  a film  or  skin,  but  will  show  a fine  and  re- 
gular grain,  as  if  the  surface  were  natural,  or  had  received 
a mere  stain  without  destroying  the  original  texture.  Imi- 
tative grainings,  however,  and  the  varnishes  which  are 
intended  to  protect  them,  and  make  them  bear  out,  neces- 
sarily produce  a new  and  artificial  texture ; and  for  this 
reason  they  are  all  to  a greater  or  less  extent  disagreeable, 
how  well  soever  the  imitations  may  be  effected. 

As  it  must  be  presumed  that  all  the  wood  submitted  to 
the  operations  of  the  painter,  which  has  passed  through  the 
hands  of  the  joiner,  was  already  well  seasoned  and  properly 
dry,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  generally,  that  work  should 
be  free  from  moisture  of  any  and  every  kind  before  paint  is 
applied  to  it,  or  it  will  at  the  least  prove  useless,  and  pro- 
bably injurious  rather  than  beneficial.  This  remark  ap- 
plies alike  to  wood  and  to  plastered  work,  both  internal 
and  external ; that  is,  whether  they  be  subjected  to  the 
more  violent  changes  of  the  weather  or  not.  Dampness  oY 
moisture  in  woods,  and  stopped  in  or  covered  up  with  paint, 
will,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  tend  to  their  destruc- 
tion ; and  in  stuccoes  it  will  spoil  the  paint,  and  most  pro- 
bably injure  the  plastering  itself  too. 

Painters’  work,  on  extended  surfaces,  is  valued  bv  the 
yard  superficial,  according  to  the  number  of  coats,  or  the 
number  of  times  the  paint  has  been  applied  to  the  surface, 
and  to  the, manner  in  which,  and  matter  with  which,  it  is 
finished.  On  skirtings,  surbases,  narrow  cornices,  reveals, 
single  mouldings,  sills,  string  courses,  &c.  it  is  measured 
by  the  foot  run  ; sash-frames  and  the  squares  or  panes  of 
sashes  are  numbered,  the  latter  by  the  dozen ; and  so  are 
other  things  which  do  not  readily  admit  of  being  measur- 
ed. Rich  cornices,  expensive  imitations,  &c.  are  taken  by 
the  foot  superficial ; and  preparations  before  the  work  can 
be  commenced  are  most  fairly  charged  for  by  the  time  they 
occupy  and  the  materials  they  consume.  The  work  is  ta- 
ken as  one,  two,  three,  four,  or  more  times  in  oil,  common 
colour ; or  so  many  times  finished  of  a certain  colour  that 
is  more  expensive  than  what  is  called  common ; or  as  so 
many  times,  and  flatted  of  such  a colour,  the  flatting  being 
an  extra  coat ; or  as  painted  so  many  times,  and  grained 
and  varnished.  Common  colours  are  those  which  are  pro- 
duced by  the  addition  of  lamp-black,  red-lead,  or  any  of 
the  common  ochres  to  white-lead  and  oil ; blues,  greens, 
rich  reds,  pinks,  and  yellows,  &c.  being  more  costly,  are 
taken  as  such.  Unflatted  white  is  a common  colour ; 
flatted,  it  classes  with  the  rich  colours.  If  the  same  sur- 
face be  painted  of  two  different  tints,  it  is  said  to  be  in 
party  colours,  and  an  allowance  is  made  in  the  price  for  the 
additional  trouble  of  finishing  in  that  manner.  Carved 
mouldings  and  other  enrichments  having  to  be  picked  in 
with  a pencil  or  small  brush,  that  the  quirks,  &c.  be  not 
choked  up,  must  be  taken  extra,  by  the  run  or  by  num- 
ber ; and  if  the  picking  in  be  in  party  colours,  the  labour 
is  necessarily  greater  than  if  the  work  be  plain. 

What  is  termed  decorating,  is  divided  between  the 
painter  and  the  paper-hanger.  Decorations  must  neces- 
sarily depend  upon  the  taste  and  skill  required  or  employ- 
ed in  producing  them ; and  the  remuneration  must  also  of 
course  be  contingent.  Decorative  papers  are  paid  for  by 
the  piece  or  yard,  a piece  being  made  in  this  country 
twelve  yards  long  and  twenty  inches  wide,  and  the  hang- 
ing is  charged  at  so  much  the  piece.  Borders  are  charged 
by  the  yard  for  the  material,  and  by  the  dozen  for  hang- 
ing. Sizing  and  otherwise  preparing  the  walls  are  con- 
sidered extra  to  the  charges  for  hanging.  (n.  n.) 


MASONRY 


Mason  ry. 

v'— V-— ' 

Masonry 

defined. 


Early  his- 
tory. 


1 . Masonry  is  the  art  of  building  with  stones. 


The  art 


Greek 

masonry. 


Roman 

masonry. 


Early  Eng. 
lish  milson. 

Ty- 


of  reducing  stones  to  regular  or  determinate  forms  is  some- 
times called  stone-cutting , but  is  usually  considered  a branch 
of  masonry.  Workers  in  marble  are  also  called  masons  ; 
but  it  is  stone-masonry  only  which  we  intend  to  treat  of  in 
this  article,  as  marble  masonry  is  rather  a manual  than  a 
scientific  art. 

2.  The  art  of  building  with  stone  is  undoubtedly  of  great 
antiquity ; and  its  early  history  is  difficult  to  trace  beyond 
the  existing  remains  of  ancient  buildings,  the  oldest  of 
which  are  objects  of  wonder,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  moving,  with  ordinary  powers,  the  immense  stones 
of  which  they  are  formed.  There  is  one  thing  remarkable 
in  these  stupendous  efforts  of  human  labour : its  directors 
have  often  been  happy  in  the  choice  of  almost  imperishable 
materials,  for  a lasting  evidence  of  their  command  of  power. 
The  remains  of  this  kind  of  gigantic  masonry  are  found  in 
various  parts  of  the  earth ; some  of  the  finest  specimens  are 
the  ancient  Egyptian  buildings,  which  seem  to  have  been 
intended  to  resist  the  power  of  men,  as  well  as  the  slow 
operations  of  time. 

3.  The  masonry  of  the  ancient  Greeks  closely  resembles 
that  of  the  Egyptians.  It  is  a more  refined  application  of 
the  same  principles  of  construction,  to  a series  of  chaste  and 
beautiful  architectural  forms,  in  which  the  ornamental  part 
of  the  art  has  evidently  attained  to  that  state  of  perfection, 
which  is  rarely,  if  ever  surpassed.  The  roof  of  the  Octagon 
Temple  of  the  Winds  maybe  considered  as  the  best  example 
of  their  constructive  skill,  whilst  it  betrays  their  ignorance 
of  the  principles  of  the  arch. 

4.  In  Roman  masonry  we  find  less  of  ponderous  strength, 
and  of  solid  construction,  than  in  the  Egyptian  and  Greek, 
and  rarely  anything  approaching  to  the  accurate  and  highly 
finished  labours  of  the  latter,  but  considerably  more  artifi- 
cial and  economical  knowledge.  If  the  manner  of  forming 
arches  and  domes1  was  not  actually  invented  by  the  Ro- 
mans, at  least  the  merit  of  applying  them  successfully,  in 
the  art  of  building,  was  undoubtedly  theirs ; and  they  also 
excelled  in  the  composition  of  mortars  and  cements.  Hence, 
they  found  it  easy  to  construct  large  works  at  a moderate 
expense,  which  could  not  have  been  accomplished  by  the 
limited  methods  of  building  known  to  their  predecessors.  It 
gives  us  a high  notion  of  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  art  of  ma- 
sonry, to  examine  its  application  by  the  Romans,  whether 
it  be  in  the  celebrated  Cloacae,  Aqueducts,  Bridges,  or  the 
Military  Roads  of  that  enterprising  people.  To  them  also 
we  owe  the  beautiful  idea  of  covering  a temple  with  a dome. 

5.  After  the  decline  of  the  Romans,  the  art  of  masonry, 
in  Europe,  gradually  acquired  its  former  importance,  through 
its  application  to  the  construction  of  castles,  towers,  and 
other  places  of  defence  ; and  eventually,  it  gained  a com- 
plete ascendancy  over  the  other  building  arts,  in  the  con- 
struction of  cathedrals,  monasteries,  and  such  like  edifices. 
In  our  own  island  it  made  an  equal  if  not  a greater  degree 
of  progress  than  it  did  upon  the  continent.  The  science  of 
masonry2  appears  to  have  attained  the  most  perfect  state  it 


arrived  at  in  those  times,  about  the  period  when  King’s  Masonry. 
College  Chapel,  at  Cambridge,  was  built,  that  is,  about  1512.  x-— ■ Y~—'' 
From  that  time,  or  soon  after,  the  knowledge  of  construction 
declined ; but  the  researches  of  men  of  science  have,  in  mo- 
dern times,  more  than  replaced  those  lost  principles  which, 
there  can  be  little  doubt,  the  elder  free-masons  possessed. 
Unfortunately,  such  principles  are,  even  at  the  present  time, 
as  inaccessible  to  a plain  workman  as  the  mysteries  of  the 
master-mason  were  to  the  apprentice  and  fellow-craft  of 
former  ages ; unless  it  be  in  some  rare  instances,  where  the 
force  of  natural  genius  has  risen  superior  to  all  difficulties, 
and  a mere  workman,  like  the  “ ’prentice  of  Roslin  Castle,” 
has  outstripped  the  masters  of  technical  science. 

6.  The  most  important  principle  of  the  free-masons,  or,  Principles 
as  they  are  usually  called,  the  “ Gothic  builders,”  was  that01  Gothic 
of  reducing  all  the  pressures  of  a vaulted  roof  to  a few  prin-  mason|y- 
cipal  supports.  These  supports  were  either  strong  pillars, 

or  buttresses,  accordingly  as  the  support  was  within  the 
area,  or  formed  a part  of  the  external  wall.  The  buttresses 
were  made  of  considerable  depth  in  the  direction  of  the 
pressure,  with  a thin  wall  from  buttress  to  buttress,  for 
enclosing  the  building.  If  they  had  made  the  external 
walls  of  uniform  thickness,  according  to  the  modern  prac- 
tice, a much  greater  quantity  of  material  would  have  been 
required  to  balance  the  pressure  of  the  vaulting.  For  simi- 
lar reasons,  the  strength  of  their  best  vaulting  consists  in 
deep-moulded  ribs  ; the  spaces  between  these  ribs  being 
formed  of  thin  light  stones,  supported  from  rib  to  rib.  The 
principles  of  construction  of  the  Gothic  builders  may  be 
readily  shewn  by  a model  of  wicker  work,  in  the  manner  of 
Sir  James  Hall’s  truly  elegant  mode  of  explaining  his  ideas 
respecting  the  origin  of  Gothic  vaulting.3  The  earliest 
notice  we  have  seen,  in  architectural  works,  of  anything 
resembling  the  principles  of  construction  just  noticed,  is 
given  by  Alberti,  who,  alluding  to  a method  of  building 
known  to  former  architects,  says,  “ The  arches  upon  which 
the  roof  was  placed  were  drawn  quite  down  to  the  founda- 
tion with  wonderful  art,  known  but  to  few ; so  that  the 
work  upheld  itself  by  being  only  set  upon  arches ; for  those 
arches  having  the  solid  earth  for  a chain,  no  wonder  they 
stood  firm  without  any  other  support.”4 

7.  Masonry,  with  some  other  arts,  having  been  drawn  Masonry  of 
out  of  their  ordinary  course  by  the  peculiar  state  of  society tlle  six- 

in  the  middle  ages,  fell  back  to  their  common  level,  if  notteenth  and 
below  it,  at  the  Reformation ; and  the  natural  consequence  of ^ntli  -en 
this  change  was  the  loss  of  the  greater  part  of  the  know-  tur;eSi 
ledge  which  had  been  gained  by  the  experience  of  several 
centuries.  But  even  in  the  most  depressed  state  of  masonry, 
there  were  individuals  in  whom  the  love  of  that  excellence 
which  animated  their  predecessors,  was  not  subdued  by 
want  of  encouragement ; and  some  scattered  works  were  ex- 
ecuted which  are  deserving  of  notice,  if  our  limited  plan 
would  allow  of  it. 

8.  When  Britain  had  happily  become  free  from  all  inter-  Present 
nal  disturbances,  and  there  was  little  to  occupy  the  time  state  of 
and  attention  of  a rapidly  increasing  population,  except  the  British  ma- 
sonry. 


1 Perhaps  the  oldest  arches,  at  present  known,  are  those  which  Mr.  Relzoni  discovered  in  Egypt ; they  are  executed  in  bricks  of  the 
same  size,  and  of  the  same  material,  as  those  which  the  Egyptians  used  in  the  construction  of  their  walls  and  pyramids.  For  further  re- 
marks upon  the  subject  of  Arches,  see  the  Article  Bridge  ; and  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen’s  Inquiry  respecting  Grecian  Architecture,  page  191 
—211. 

2 What  other  term  than  science  can  be  applied  to  that  knowledge,  which  enables  a mason  to  dispose  large  masses  of  stone- work  over  a 
considerable  area,  with  only  a few  distant  supports  ? 

3 Essay  on  the  Origin , History,  and  Principles  of  Gothic  Architecture,  London,  1813.  Ware  has  collected  most  of  the  forms  employed, 
in  his  Tracts  on  Vaults,  &c.  London,  1822. 

4 Architecture  of  Leo  Baptista  Alberti  (Leoni’s  translation),  book  i.  chap-  xii. 


108 


M A S O N R Y. 


State  of 
masonry  oil 
the  conti- 
nent. 


French 

masonry 


Masonry,  improvement  of  their  own  condition  in  life,  the  chief  fruit 
s— ^ of  their  exertions  for  this  purpose  was,  an  unprecedented 
extension  of  the  foreign  and  domestic  trade  of  the  country; 
wharfs,  docks,  harbours,  and  lighthouses  were  constructed  ; 
canals,  locks,  roads,  and  bridges,  became  the  necessary  ap- 
pendages of  this  new  state  of  things ; and,  accordingly,  it 
was  found  desirable  again  to  cultivate  the  art  of  masonry. 

These  important  works  also  called  forth  a new  profession, 
of  which  the  celebrated  Smeaton  has  been  called  the  father. 
Smeaton’s  first  work  was  the  Eddystone  Lighthouse,  which, 
in  originality  of  design,  and  soundness  of  construction,  has 
not  been  equalled.  Since  its  erection,  such  a succession  of 
bold  and  useful  works  have  been  accomplished,  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  enumerate  them and  it  may  be  suf- 
ficient to  remark,  that  the  masonry  of  our  own  age  and 
country,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  these  works,  is  without  a par- 
allel in  preceding  times. 

9.  In  the  northern  states  of  Europe,  their  best  works  are 
chiefly  modelled  after  ours ; and,  with  the  exception  of 
France,  there  is  not  in  the  southern  states  any  considerable 
degree  of  encouragement  given  to  any  branch  of  masonry. 
It  may  nevertheless  be  remarked,  that  the  principles  of 
construction  form  a popular  subject  of  study  in  Italy. 

10.  In  France  masonry  has  always  been  a popular  art ; 
partly,  perhaps,  from  Paris  being  situated  in  the  midst  of  a 
district  which  abounds  in  excellent  building  stone.  The 
French  government  has  constantly  directed  a considerable 
share  of  attention  to  the  construction  of  roads,  bridges,  and 
military  works ; and,  consequently,  has  afforded  sufficient 
scope  for  its  improvement.  When,  however,  the  larger 
works  of  the  French  masons  are  compared  with  those  of  our 
own  countrymen,  one  very  remarkable  difference  may  be 
observed : the  French  works  have  more  of  the  character  of 
daring  experiments,  than  that  which  ought  to  belong  to  the 
works  of  regular  professors  of  an  art ; whilst  the  British 
works  of  the  same  kind  have  evidently  been  directed  by 
men  much  better  versed  in  practical  construction  than  in  the 
refinements  of  science.  There  is,  perhaps,  more  of  novelty 
in  the  French  works  than  is  to  be  found  in  ours ; but  it 
may  be  remarked,  that  this  novelty  of  character  is  often 
obtained  by  a sacrifice  of  fitness,  as  in  the  catenarian  dome 
of  the  Pantheon  ; or  of  strength,  as  in  the  bridges  of  Nogent, 
Neuilly,  and  others.  The  true  criterion  of  excellence  in  a 
useful  art  seems  to  be,  fitness  for  producing  the  desired  end 
in  the  best  possible  manner. 


I OF  MATERIALS  USED  IN  MASONRY. 

Materials.  11.  The  first  object  of  attention,  in  a treatise  on  mason- 
ry, might  to  be,  the  nature  of  the  materials  employed  in  it, 
because  the  greater  part  of  the  principles  of  an  art  always 
depend  on  the  nature  of  the  substances  it  is  to  be  exercised 
upon. 

Of  Stones. 

Nature  of  12.  Building  stone  is  a dense,  coherent  body,  of  consi- 
stories. derable  hardness  and  durability,  but  generally  brittle.  It 
possesses  these  qualities  in  various  degrees,  according  to 
the  nature  of  its  chemical  elements,  or  the  state  of  aggre- 
gation of  its  parts.  The  structure  of  stones  is  either  lami- 
nated or  granulated,  or  of  a mixed  kind.  The  chemical  con- 
stituents of  building  stones  are  silica,  alumina,  lime,  mag- 
nesia, and  metals,  combined  with  acids,  water,  and  sometimes 
with  alkalis ; some  other  chemical  elements  are  found  in 
building  stones,  but  not  often  in  sufficient  quantity  to  affect 
Laminated  t^e  nature  °f  the  stones. 

stones.'  13.  Laminated  stones  consist  of  thin  plates,  or  layers, 


cohering  more  or  less  strongly  together ; but  when  the  layers  Masonry. 

are  of  considerable  size,  and  cohere  so  slightly  that  they  ’ 

may  be  easily  separated,  the  stones  are  said  to  be  slaty. 

The  layers  are  always  nearly  parallel  to  the  quarry-beds  of 
the  stone,  and  they  should  always  be  horizontal,  or  as  nearly 
so  as  possible,  in  a building,  otherwise  the  action  of  the 
weather  will  cause  them  to  separate,  and  fall  off  in  flakes. 

In  sandstones,  the  direction  of  the  layers  may  often  be  dis- 
covered by  their  different  shades  of  colour ; and  in  others,  by 
the  position  of  minute  scales  of  mica,  which  always  lie 
parallel  to  the  layers.  In  most  stones  the  direction  of  the 
layers  may  be  ascertained  by  the  facility  with  which  the 
stone  yields  to  the  tool  in  that  direction ; but  a considerable 
degree  of  practice  is  necessary  to  acquire  so  nice  a discri- 
mination of  resistance,  and  good  workmen  only  attain  it. 

Amongst  laminated  stones,  those  are  the  most  durable  in 
which  the  laminae  are  least  distinct,  and  the  texture  uniform. 

When  the  laminae  do  not  perfectly  cohere,  they  are  soon  in- 
jured by  frost,  and  they  are  wholly  unfit  for  places  alternate- 
ly wet  and  dry. 

14.  Granular  stones  consist  of  distinct  concretions  resem-  Granular 
bling  grains,  either  of  the  same  or  of  different  simple  miner-  stones, 
als  cohering  together.  When  the  structure  is  uniform,  and 

the  grains  or  concretions  are  small,  stones  of  this  kind  are 
always  strong  and  durable,  if  the  concretions  themselves  be 
so.  Granular  stones  are  sometimes  open  and  porous,  but 
when  they  are  uniformly  so,  they  seldom  suffer  materially 
by  frost,  because  their  uniform  porosity  allows  the  expan- 
sive force  of  congealing  water  to  be  distributed  in  every  di- 
rection. 

15.  Stones  of  a compound  structure,  partly  laminate  and  Compound 
partly  granular,  have  more  or  less  of  the  characters  of  the  stones, 
two  classes  before  described ; for  it  may  be  observed  in  coarse- 
grained granite  that  the  laminated  structure  of  some  of  its 

parts  renders  it  very  susceptible  of  disintegration.  All  kinds 
of  stone  obtained  from  quarries  are  found  divided  by  vertical 
or  inclined  seams,  which  are  sometimes  so  close  that  they 
cannot  be  distinguished  till  the  stones  are  wrought ; but 
they  often  separate  under  the  tool  at  such  seams ; and  it  is 
not  safe  to  employ  stone  to  resist  any  considerable  transverse 
strain  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  knowing  where  those 
seams  are. 

16.  In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  of  this  impor-  Durability 
tant  subject,  we  may  attribute  the  failure  of  building  stones0*  stones, 
to  two  causes  ; the  one  chemical,  and  the  other  mechani- 
cal, which  we  shall  here  distinguish  by  the  terms  decom- 
position and  disintegration. 

17.  Decomposition  consists  in  the  chemical  elements  ofDecomP°- 
a stone  entering  into  new  combinations  with  water,  oxygen, Slt1011, 

or  carbonic  acid  gas.  Stones  containing  such  elements  as 
are  readily  acted  upon  by  these  external  causes  will  be  found 
most  subject  to  decomposition ; and  the  process  will  be,  in 
many  kinds,  much  hastened  by  a loose  texture.  Stones 
containing  saline  matter,  as  the  felspar  of  some  granites,  are 
acted  upon  by  water,  particularly  where  the  soluble  salt  is 
in  considerable  proportion ; and  in  some  stones  the  applica- 
tion of  salt  water  soon  destroys  them.  Dolomieu  says,  the 
houses  at  Malta  are  built  with  a fine-grained  limestone,  of 
a loose  and  porous  texture,  which  speedily  moulders  away 
when  it  has  been  wetted  with  sea  water.I 2 *  Stones  contain- 
ing iron,  which  is  not  in  a maximum  state  of  oxidation,  are 
often  destroyed  by  the  absorption  of  oxygen  and  carbonic 
acid  ; the  presence  of  moisture  accelerates  their  decompo- 
sition, and  it  is  always  still  further  hastened  by  increase  of 
temperature.  According  to  the  observations  of  Kirwan, 
stones  containing  iron,  in  a low  state  of  oxidation  are  of  a 
black,  a brown,  or  a bluish  colour  ; and  in  some  instances, 
when  united  with  alumina  and  magnesia,  they  are  of  a grey, 


1 See  the  Articles  Brll-Rock  Lighthouse,  Bridge,  Breakwater,  and  Navigation  Inland. 

* Kirwan’s  Geological  Essaijs,  p.  1 48,  1 49. 


MASONRY. 


109 


tion. 


Masonry,  or  of  a greenish  grey ; the  former,  as  they  become  more  oxy- 
genized,  change  to  purple,  red,  orange,  and  finally  pale 
yellow ; the  latter  become  at  first  blue,  then  purple,  red,  &cd 
But  stones  containing  iron,  combined  with  its  maximum  of 
oxygen,  do  not  readily  decompose,  such  are  red  porphyry, 
jaspers,  &c.  When  stones  contain  manganese,  lime,  alumina, 
carbon,  or  bitumen,  in  particular  states,  they  are  subject  to 
decomposition,  from  the  affinities  of  one  or  other  of  these 
bodies ; but  nothing  very  decisive  is,  or  perhaps  can  be, 
known  respecting  such  changes,  till  some  improvement  be 
made  in  analytical  chemistry,  by  which  the  state  of  combi- 
nation of  the  constituents  of  minerals  can  be  determined 
with  more  certainty. 

Disintegra^  1 8.  Disintegration  is  the  separation  of  the  parts  of  stones 
by  mechanical  action.  The  chief  cause  is  the  congelation 
of  water  in  the  minute  pores  and  fissures  of  stones,  which 
bursts  them  open,  or  separates  small  parts  according  as  the 
structure  is  slaty  or  irregularly  granulated.  The  south 
sides  of  buildings,  in  northern  climates,  are  most  subject  to 
fail ; because  the  surface  is  often  thawed  and  filled  with 
wet  in  the  sunny  part  of  the  day,  and  frozen  again  at  night. 
This  repeated  operation  of  freezing  is  also  very  injurious  to 
sea  walls,  the  piers  of  bridges,  and  other  works  exposed  al- 
ternately to  water  and  frost.1 2  The  decay  and  destruction 
of  rocks  being  the  effects  of  the  same  natural  causes,  the 
reader  will  find  some  further  illustration  of  this  subject  in 
the  article  Mineralogy. 

1 9-  The  resistance  of  stones  to  wear  and  tear  is,  for  many 
purposes,  a subject  which  it  would  be  useful  to  investigate, 
since  on  this  resistance  depends  also  the  labour  of  working 
them.  From  some  experiments  made  by  Rondelet,  it  ap- 
pears that  granite  will  bear  eight  times  as  much  wear  as 
veined  white  marble  ; and  that  the  labour  of  sawing  gran- 
ite was  about  ten  times  greater  than  that  of  sawing  veined 
white  marble.3 

Scotland  abounds  in  quarries  of  excellent  building  sand- 
stone ; such,  in  particular,  are  the  quarries  at  Culello,  in 
Fifeshire,  which  furnished  the  stones  for  the  monument  erect- 
ed at  Yarmouth  to  the  memory  of  Lord  Nelson,  and  that  at 
Edinburgh  to  the  memory  of  Lord  Melville.  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  beauty  of  the  sandstone  used  in  those  noble 
structures  ; and  besides  beauty,  and  other  valuable  quali- 
ties, it  has  in  a high  degree  that  of  being  easily  chiselled 
into  the  smoothest  and  finest  forms. 


Resistance 
to  wear. 


Mortars 
and  ce- 
ments. 


Nature  of 

common 

mortar. 


Of  Mortars  and  Cements. 

20.  In  the  greater  part  of  works  executed  in  stone,  it  is 
necessary  to  use  some  kind  of  cementitious  matter  for  con- 
necting the  parts  together,  to  render  them  firm  and  com- 
pact. Works  to  be  exposed  to  the  action  of  water,  immedi- 
ately after  being  built,  require  this  cementitious  matter  to 
be  of  such  a nature  that  it  will  indurate  under  water. 
Hence  it  is,  that  we  have  occasion  for  two  species  of  mor- 
tar ; one  which  will  set  and  harden  under  water,  called  a 
water  mortar,  or  cement ; and  common  mortar. 

21.  If  a piece  of  limestone,  or  chalk,  be  slowly  calcined, 
so  as  to  expel  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  of  its  car- 
bonic acid,  it  loses  about  44  per  cent,  of  its  weight ; and  on 
a small  quantity  of  water  being  added,  it  swells,  gives  out 
heat,  and  falls  into  a finely  divided  powder,  called  slacked 
lime.  The  bulk  of  the  powder  is  about  double  that  of  the 
limestone.  If  this  powder  be  rapidly  formed  into  a stiff 
paste  with  water,  it  sets  or  solidifies  as  a hydrate  of  lime, 
and  ultimately  hardens  by  the  absorption  of  carbonic  acid 
from  the  air.  This  constitutes  common  building  mortar. 
Hydrate  of  lime  consists  of  lime,  100  parts,  and  water  31 
parts. 


22.  If  any  substance,  reduced  to  powder,  and  containing  Masonry, 
much  iron  in  a low  state  of  oxidation,  be  mixed  with  slacked 

lime,  the  mixture  will  become  harder  and  more  coherent  Water 
than  when  lime  alone  is  employed  ; and  it  possesses  the mortai* 
valuable  property  of  acquiring  an  equal,  or  perhaps  greater 
degree  of  hardness,  if  it  be  immersed  in  water  as  soon  as  it 
is  formed  into  a paste.  This  constitutes  water  mortar.  A 
paste  of  hydrate  of  lime  alone  softens  and  dissolves  in  water. 

Alumina,  silica,  and  manganese,  are  endowed  with  the  same 
property  as  oxide  of  iron,  but  in  an  inferior  degree.  It 
may  be  observed,  in  forming  such  combinations,  that  when 
the  lime  is  in  excess,  it  separates  ; and  in  favourable  situa- 
tions, either  crystallizes  or  forms  stalactites  ; indicating  that 
there  is  a definite  proportion  according  to  which  the  ma- 
terials should  be  combined  to  form  the  best  cement. 

23.  If  some  kind  of  matter,  in  the  state  of  particles  or  Use  of 
of  grains,  be  mixed  with  the  cementing  material,  and  then  sand  in 
the  mixture  be  formed  into  a paste  with  water,  the  strength  mortar, 
and  hardness  of  the  cement  will  greatly  depend  on  the  na- 
ture of  the  particles  added  to  it.  In  order  that  the  cement 

may  be  improved  by  such  addition,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
hardness  of  the  particles  should  at  least  be  equal  to  the 
greatest  degree  of  hardness  the  cement  can  acquire ; and 
also,  that  the  affinity  between  these  particles  and  the  ce- 
menting matter  should  exceed  the  affinity  between  the  parts 
of  the  cement  itself.  From  this  explanation  it  will  readily 
appear,  that  any  substance  which  is  added  to  a cement  for 
the  purpose  of  increasing  its  bulk,  its  hardness,  or  its  strength, 
ought  to  be  in  particles  or  grains  ; and  that  no  soft,  earthy, 
or  pulverent  matter  is  fit  for  this  purpose.  It  will  be  equally 
apparent,  to  those  who  have  considered  the  nature  of  che- 
mical combination,  that  the  cementing  part  of  the  materials 
employed  in  the  composition  of  mortars  and  cements,  should 
be  in  the  finest  state  of  division  that  it  is  possible  to  reduce 
them  to. 

An  attentive  consideration  of  these  principles  will  afford 
an  easy  solution  of  some  of  the  most  interesting  questions 
to  which  this  important  subject  gives  rise  ; and  correct  some 
errors  that  have  originated  from  a partial  examination  of  the 
phenomena.  We  have  now  to  examine  the  qualities  of 
those  materials  which  naturally  occur  in  the  earth ; from 
these  must  be  selected  the  kinds  that  can  be  obtained  at 
the  least  expense  for  the  place  they  are  to  be  employed  at, 
when  their  quality  is  suitable  to  the  nature  of  the  work. 

24.  The  cementing  materials  are  chiefly  obtained  from  Limestones, 
the  different  species  of  limestone,  to  which  may  be  added  puz- 

zolana,  terras,  iron  ores,  basalt,  and  other  substances  of  a 
like  character.  The  limestones  may  be  divided,  as  regards 
cements  and  mortars,  into  three  classes  ; common  lime- 
stone, poor  limestones  ( chaux  maigre  of  the  French),  and 
cement  stones. 

25.  Common  limestones  consist  of  carbonate  of  lime  with  Common 
very  httle  of  any  other  substance;  they  produce  a white  limestones, 
lime,  which  slacks  freely  when  well  burned  ; they  dissolve 

in  diluted  muriatic  acid  with  only  a small  portion  of  residue, 
and  never  contain  more  than  a trace  of  iron.  They  differ 
much  in  external  characters,  as  chalk,  marble,  common  com- 
pact limestone,  &c.  These  limestones  do  not  form  water 
cements  without  the  addition  of  other  kinds  of  cementing 
matter  ; and  hence  they  are  usually  employed  for  common 
mortar.  The  hardest  marble  and  the  softest  chalk  make 
equally  good  lime  when  well  burned  ; but  chalk  lime  will 
slack  when  not  perfectly  burned,  and,  therefore,  has  seldom 
a sufficient  quantity  of  fire ; whereas  stone  lime  must  have 
sufficient  to  make  it  slack.  It  has  also  been  observed,  that 
stone  lime  does  not  re-absorb  carbonic  acid  so  rapidly  as 
chalk  lime.4 


1 Kirwan’s  Geological  Essays,  p.  145,  6. 

2 The  decayed  state  of  the  piers  of  Westminster  and  Blackfriars’  Badges  shews  us  how  very  little  this  important  subject  has  been 

studied  ; as  well  as  the  necessity  of  studying  it. 

1 Traitc  de  I'art  de  bdtir,  tome  i.  p.  95,  4 Higgins  on  Mortars  and  Cements,  p 29. 


1 10 


MASONRY. 


Poor 

limestones. 


Cement 

stones. 


Masonry.  Lime,  made  from  common  limestones,  sustains  very  little 
injury  from  being  kept  after  it  has  been  formed  into  a thin 
paste  with  w'ater,  provided  the  air  be  effectually  excluded  ; 
indeed,  Alberti  mentions  an  instance  of  some  which  had 
been  covered  up  in  a ditch  for  a very  long  time,  that  was 
of  an  excellent  quality. 

26.  Poor  limestones  consist  of  carbonate  of  lime  united 
with  silica,  alumina,  and  metalic  oxides.  They  in  general 
produce  a buff-coloured  lime,  but  sometimes  it  is  white. 
When  the  lime  is  white,  there  are  no  metalic  oxides  present. 
They  contain  a considerable  portion  of  matter,  which  is 
insoluble  in  acids.  They  differ  considerably  in  external  cha- 
racters ; the  blue  lias,  the  Sussex  clunch,  and  Sutton  lime- 
stones, may  be  cited  as  instances.  The  lime  of  poor  lime- 
stones does  not  slack  freely  ; and  it  would  always  be  desir- 
able to  reduce  it  to  powder  by  grinding,  in  preference  to 
slacking,  because  in  slacking  a part  of  its  setting  property 
is  destroyed.  When  poor  lime  is  slacked,  it  should  be  made 
into  mortar,  and  used  immediately.  Moisture  does  such 
lime  more  injury  than  the  re-absorption  of  carbonic  acid ; 
and  mortar  made  of  it  ought  not  to  be  disturbed  after  it  has 
begun  to  set  or  harden.  Poor  limestones  are  subject  to 
vitrify  in  burning,  unless  the  heat  be  increased  gradually  ; 
but  by  a little  management  in  this  respect  they  will  bear  a 
heat  sufficiently  intense  to  convert  them  into  good  lime. 
The  lime  of  poor  limestones  makes  excellent  common  mor- 
tar, when  the  precautions  we  have  pointed  out  have  been 
attended  to.  It  is  much  superior  to  mortar  made  from  com- 
mon limestones.  It  is  not,  however,  sufficiently  powerful  for 
a water  cement  without  the  addition  of  puzzolana,  terras,  or 
other  like  substances. 

27-  Cement  stones.  We  have  taken  the  liberty  of  giv- 
ing this  name  to  the  class  of  earthy  bodies  which  afford  a 
good  water-cement  without  addition  ; and  it  appears  to  be 
essential  for  that  purpose  that  there  should  be  at  least  50 
per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  stone.  Those  ce- 
ments which  answer  best  are  made  from  stones  containing 
about  60  per  cent.  The  other  substances  usually  contain- 
ed in  these  stones  are,  silica,  alumina,  oxide  of  iron,  some- 
times oxide  of  manganese,  carbonate  of  magnesia,  with 
traces  of  other  alkaline  and  earthy  salts.  Cement  stones 
are  in  a great  measure  soluble,  with  effervescence,  in  diluted 
muriatic  acid  ; they  lose  about  one-third  of  their  weight  by 
calcination,  after  which  they  do  not  slack,  but  may  be  ground 
into  a fine  powder,  of  a brown  colour,  of  different  degrees 
of  intensity  according  to  the  nature  of  the  stone.  Those 
now  used  to  make  cement  are  found  in  rolled  pieces,  or  in 
nodules,  with  septa  of  carbonate  of  lime,  on  the  sea-coast 
at  Sheppy,  Harwich,  and  near  Whitby,  and  at  Boulogne  on 
the  French  coast.  The  nodules  are  plentifully  dispersed 
throughout  the  London  clay  stratum,  and  the  alum  shale  of 
Whitby  ; they  are  termed  clay-balls,  ludus  helmontii,  sep- 
taria,  &c.  Cement  stones  are  also  liable  to  vitrify  in  burning, 
either  from  being  quickly  exposed  to  a strong  heat,  or  by 
making  the  heat  too  intense. 

When  cement  stones  have  been  calcined  and  ground,  the 
powder  thus  obtained  should  be  kept  in  a very  dry  place, 
as  its  setting  property  is  soon  destroyed  by  moisture.  It 
absorbs  moisture  rapidly  from  the  air ; and,  therefore,  it 
should  be  as  little  exposed  as  possible  ; but  when  closely 
packed,  and  in  a dry  place,  it  may  be  kept  a considerable  time. 

28.  There  are  perhaps  few  mineral  bodies  which  would 
answer  as  well  as  clay-balls  for  making  cement,  unless  it 
be  calcareous  marls ; but  there  are  very  few  situations  where 
the  means  of  forming  an  artificial  cement  are  wanting  ; the 
manner  of  proceeding  must  depend  upon  the  nature  of  the 
substances  employed.  In  general  it  will  be  necessary  to 
mix  slacked  lime  with  the  substance  containing  silica,  alu- 
mina, and  oxide  of  iron,  and  calcine  them  together,  and 
afterwards  grind  them.  The  iron  should  be  in  the  state  of 
protoxide,  to  the  amount  of  from  13  to  18  per  cent,  by 


Artificial 

cement. 


weight.  The  quantity  of  lime  may  be  about  30  per  cent.  Masonry, 
or  53  per  cent,  of  carbonate  of  lime  ; the  silica  and  alumina 
being  in  equal  portions ; and  hence,  in  the  raw  materials, 


one  hundred  parts  by  weight  may 

consist  of 

Carbonate  of  lime 

53 

Protoxide  of  iron 

18 

Silica  and  alumina.... 

29 

100 

29.  There  are  several  mineral  bodies  which,  combined 
with  lime,  form  good  cements.  Some  of  these  may  be  used 
in  their  natural  state,  but  others  require  calcination.  Puz- 
zolana and  tarras  are  of  the  former  kind  ; basalt,  iron  ores, 
and  ferruginous  clay,  belong  to  the  latter  class. 

Puzzolana  is  a volcanic  production  much  used  in  making  Puzzolana. 
water  cements.  It  was  known  to  the  Romans,  and  employ- 
ed by  them  both  in  ordinary  buildings  and  in  water  works. 

Its  colour  is  reddish  or  reddish  brown,  and  grey  or  grey- 
ish black  ; that  of  Naples  is  generally  grey,  that  of  Civita 
Vecchia  more  generally  reddish  brown.  Its  surface  is  rough 
and  uneven,  and  it  has  a baked  appearance ; when  broken 
and  examined  by  a magnifying  glass  it  appears  to  be  a 
spongy  substance,  with  innumerable  cavities  like  a cinder, 
and  not  much  harder.  It  comes  to  this  country  in  pieces 
varying  in  size  from  the  bulk  of  a nut  to  that  of  an  egg.  It 
is  very  brittle,  and  has  an  earthy  smell ; its  specific  gravity 
being  from  2-570  to  2-785.  It  does  not  effervesce  with 
acids;  and  is  not  diffusable  in  cold  water.  The  iron  it  con- 
tains is  not  oxidated ; and  being  finely  divided  and  dispersed 
throughout  its  mass,  offers  a large  surface  which  quickly 
decomposes  the  water  with  which  it  is  mixed  when  made 
into  mortar.  The  union  of  the  oxygen  of  the  water  with 
the  iron  is  the  principal  cause  of  the  solidification  of  water 
mortar  ; and  this  union  is  greatly  facilitated  by  the  heat 
given  out  by  the  quicklime. 

30.  The  substance  called  Tarras  or  Trass,  found  near  An-  Tarras. 
dernach,  on  the  Rhine,  is  endowed  with  similar  properties. 

Its  colour  is  light  grey  or  brownish  grey ; its  surface  is  rough 
and  porous  ; and  it  is  often  found  mixed  with  other  matter. 

It  is  sometimes  so  hard  that  it  yields  with  difficulty  to  the 
knife.  According  to  Bergman,  it  contains  more  lime  than 
puzzolana  does,  and  effervesces  slightly  with  acids.  Smeaton 
found  puzzolana  to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  tarras  in 
forming  a water  cement  with  Aberthaw  lime  ; he  also  ob- 
served that  tarras  is  inferior  for  work  which  is  to  be  alter- 
nately wet  and  dry. 

31.  If  any  stone  be  employed  in  which  the  iron  is  per- 
fectly oxidized,  it  will  be  necessary  to  abstract  some 
portion  of  the  oxygen  from  the  iron  in  the  process  of  calci- 
nation, on  the  same  principle  as  the  reduction  of  iron  from 
the  ore  is  effected.  (See  Iron-Making.)  It  is  also  neces- 
sary to  employ  similar  means  to  restore  the  cementing  power 
of  materials  that  have  attracted  moisture  after  being  cal- 
cined. 


II. OF  THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  STABILITY  AND 

STRENGTH  IN  MASONRY. 

32.  The  strength  and  the  stability  of  stone-work  depends 
partly  on  its  mass  or  weight,  and  partly  on  the  resistance 
of  the  materials.  And,  since  we  cannot  imagine  incom- 
pressible fulcra,  nor  that  the  materials  of  masonry  are  infi- 
nitely hard  and  inflexible,  as  writers  on  elementary  mechanics 
consider  them  to  be,  therefore,  it  is  essential  that  the  re- 
sistance of  materials  should  be  considered,  and  the  effect  of 
their  weight  allowed  for  in  estimating  the  power  of  the 
straining  force. 

The  resistance  of  stones  being  dependent  on  their  state 
of  aggregation,  and  not  on  the  hardness  or  density  of  their 


MASONRY. 


Ill 


Masonry,  elementary  parts,  their  comparative  strength  cannot  be 
v-“ judged  of  by  these  qualities ; indeed,  there  are  few  kinds  of 
materials  of  which  the  resistance  is  so  uncertain  as  that  of 
stone,  and  hence,  it  is  not  at  all  adapted  for  any  support 
where  its  resistance  depends  on  its  cohesion  only,  unless  it  be 
very  carefully  examined,  and  abundant  strength  be  allowed. 
(See  § 15.)  The  resistance  of  stone  to  compression  is  less 
affected  by  its  irregular  nature,  particularly  as  it  is  usually 
employed  in  blocks  of  inconsiderable  height;  and,  in  gene- 
ral, there  is  scarcely  any  reason  to  be  sparing  of  a material 
which  it  is  often  more  expensive  to  reduce  than  to  employ 
in  large  blocks.  When,  however,  works  of  great  magni- 
tude are  to  be  constructed,  the  weight  of  the  materials 
, themselves  forms  the  chief  part  of  the  straining  force ; and, 
consequently,  in  such  cases  it  becomes  desirable  to  form  a 
tolerably  accurate  estimate  of  their  power. 

33.  This  power  is  limited  by  a property  of  bodies,  that  has 
not  received  that  degree  of  attention  which  its  importance 
would  lead  us  to  expect.  We  shall  in  this  place  make  it  the 
basis  of  an  investigation  of  the  power  of  materials  to  resist 
a force  applied  in  any  given  direction,  and  shew  its  appli- 
cation to  some  of  the  cases  where  a mason  is  most  likely  to 
need  the  assistance  of  calculation. 

When  any  material  is  strained  beyond  a certain  extent, 
every  time  the  strain  is  increased  to  the  same  degree,  there 
is  a permanent  derangement  of  the  structure  of  the  material 
produced;  and  a frequent  repetition  will  increase  the  derange- 
ment till  the  parts  actually  separate.  (See  the  article  Car- 
pentry.) When  a small  base  rests  upon  a considerable 
mass  of  matter,  as  a pier  on  the  ground,  the  quantity  of  de- 
rangement will  increase  only  till  the  mass  be  compressed  to 
that  degree  which  renders  the  increase  insensible ; but  in 
many  cases  a number  of  years  will  elapse  before  the  settle- 
ment becomes  insensible. 

34.  The  strain  which  produces  permanent  derangement 
in  the  structure  of  a material  varies  from  one-fourth  to  two- 
fifths  of  that  which  would  destroy  its  direct  cohesion.  In 
stone  the  lower  value  should  be  taken,  on  account  of  its 
being  subject  to  so  many  defects ; and,  for  the  present,  let 
this  strain  be  denoted  by /lbs.  upon  a superficial  foot. 

35.  Imagine  AB CD  to  be  a block,  Plate  CCCXLV.  fig.  1, 

strained  either  in  the  direction  EF  or  FE,  by  a force  W ; 
and  let  BDF  be  a line  drawn  in  the  same  plane  as  the  di- 
rection of  the  straining  force,  and  perpendicular  to  the 
axis  ab  of  the  block.  Now,  if  we  consider  the  resistance 
of  the  block  to  be  collected  at  the  centres  of  resistance  t 
and  c;  then  rfF  will  represent  a lever  acted  upon  by  three 
forces ; that  is,  the  resistance  at  t and  c,  and  the  straining 
force  at  F.  If  the  angle  FE<?,  be  denoted  by  a;  then,  the 
effect  of  the  force  W,  reduced  to  a direction  perpendicular 
to  the  lever,  will  be  expressed  by  cos.  aW.  (1.) 

Also,  if  T be  the  resistance  at  t,  and  C the  resistance  at 
c,  we  shall,  in  the  case  of  equilibrium,  have  C — T— cos.  a 
W.  (2.) 

And,  by  the  property  of  the  lever, 
tcx  T 

=W  cos.  a (3.) 

tc  C 

Hence,  -=-=vfr—  1 (4.) 

ch  1 

36.  Without  stopping  to  notice  some  maxims  furnished 
by  this  equation,  (see  the  article  Bridge.)  We  will  pro- 
ceed to  explain  the  notation  used  in  the  investigation  which 
follows : 

/zrthe  length  AB. 

d—  the  depth  BD,  measured  in  the  same  plane  as  the 
direction  of  the  strain. 

5~the  breadth. 

z=the  distance  of  the  neutral  point  e from  the  axis  ab. 

yzzthe  distance  of  the  point  <j  from  the  axis  ab. 


p( \d — z),  and  p{\d-\-z)  the  respective  distances  of  the  Masonry, 
centres  of  resistance  t and  c from  the  neutral  v— v- — ' 
point;  and,  consequently, 
pd—  the  distance,  ct,  between  them.  And, 
g(\d — z),  and  g(\d-\-z)  the  respective  distances  of  the 
centres  of  gravity  of  the  sections  into  which  the 
neutral  axis  divides  the  block,  counted  from  the 
neutral  point. 

The  leverage,  cF,  expressed  in  this  notation,  will  be 
l sin.  a 

4 -y — \pd-\-{ — p)z  ; consequently,  equation  (4) 


cos.  a 
becomes 


pd 


-+g—ipd  + (1  —p)z 


(5.) 


37.  Now,  it  has  been  shewn,  by  writers  on  the  resistance 
of  solids,  that  the  resistance  of  any  section,  collected  at  its 
centre  of  pressure,  is  equal  to  its  cohesive  force  multiplied 
by  the  distance  of  its  centre  of  gravity  from  the  neutral 
axis,  and  divided  by  the  distance  of  the  point  of  greatest 
strain  from  the  neutral  axis.  (Emerson’s  Mechanics , prop. 
77.  4to.  ed.) 

Accordingly  we  have  C — — (6.) 

And  T=^MfcfI2  (7.) 

%d+z  v 

C P-d+z)‘ 

Therefore— — ^ ^ — y2 ; which  being  substituted  in  equa- 
tion (5),  we  obtain 

(3/? — 2)z2 — 2z  +frd*=o  (8.) 

\ CUo«  Cl  / 

2 

If  the  block  be  rectangular  />=-,  and,  therefore,  the 

distance  of  the  neutral  point  from  the  axis  is 

d? 


//  sin.  a \ 
121 \-y ) 

\ cos.  a —Jj 


(9.) 


38.  The  value  of  z for  a rectangular  section  being  deter- 
mined, the  magnitude  of  the  straining  force  is  easily  found, 
so  that  it  may  not  exceed  the  power  of  the  material ; for, 
by  the  properties  of  the  lever, 
pdC 

W cos.  a=-;-A 


l sin.  a 


and  since  C 


+y-\-\pd+zQ-—p) 


cos.  a 

—fbgdd+z)  by  equation  (6),  and 
d? 


/I  sin.  « \ 

12 +y) 

\ cos.  a ) 

of  the  section,  we  have 

fbd1 


by  equation  (9),  and  g~\  by  the  form 


W — -V 


(10.) 


d cos.  a-j-6/  sin.  a-f  6y  cos.  a 
39.  In  particular  cases  this  formula  becomes  more  simple ; 
as,  for  example,  when  the  distance  of  the  point  g from  the 
axis  ab  is  o,  that  is,  when  y~o, 

W=  fM\  <1L) 

d cos.  «-f-6/  sin.  a 

In  a column,  or  pillar,  the  section  of  greatest  strain  will 
be  at  the  middle  of  the  length,  as  at  BD  in  fig.  2 ; and  the 
direction  EF  of  the  straining  force  is  usually  parallel  to  the 
axis;  and  then  sin.  a=o,  and  cos.  a=  1,  and  therefore, 
fbd2 


W= 


d+6y 


(12.) 


When  the  direction  of  the  straining  force  coincides  with 


112 


MASONRY. 


Masonry,  the  axis,  or  when  y—o,  the  strain  on  a column  or  pillar  is 
V v expressed  by  the  equation  W=r fbd  (13.) 

These  equations  apply  also  to  tensile  forces. 

When  the  strain  becomes  transverse,  or  when  EF  is  per- 
pendicular to  the  axis,  as  in  fig.  3,  then  cos.  a~o , and  sin. 

a— 1,  hence  W (14.) 

If  the  block  be  supported  at  the  ends,  and  the  load  be 
applied  in  the  middle  of  the  length,  as  in  fig.  4,  the  fracture 
will  take  place  at  BD  ; and  W in  equation  (14)  will  be  the 
pressure  on  either  supDort,  which  is  obviously  half  the  load 
in  the  middle. 

40.  In  any  of  these  equations  it  is  perfectly  immaterial 
how  the  load  be  distributed,  provided  the  line  of  direction  be 
that  which  passes  through  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  mass 
supported,  and  the  weight  be  the  whole  weight  of  that 
mass.  Or,  if  the  strain  be  the  combined  effect  of  several 
pressures,  then  the  direction  must  be  that  of  the  resultant 
of  these  pressures,  as  determined  by  the  principles  of  me- 
chanics. (See  the  article  Carpentry.) 

41.  If  a slab  of  equable  thickness  and  width  be  supported 
along  two  of  its  sides,  as  at  AC,  AB  in  fig.  5,  and  it  be 
strained  by  a force  acting  at  D,  in  a direction  perpendicu- 
lar to  its  surface,  and  DE  be  made  equal  to  DB,  then  the 
fracture  will  take  place  in  the  direction  EB ; for  it  may  be 


shown,  by  the  principles  of  the  maxima  and  minima  of  Masonry, 
quantities,  that  the  resistance,  according  to  that  line,  is  a ^ 

minimum.  And  since,  in  that  case,  EB=2  FD,  we  shall 

fd2 


have,  by  equation,  (14),  W=  - 


(15.) 


A force  uniformly  diffused  over  the  surface  of  the  slab 
would  fracture  it  in  the  direction  CB,  shown  by  a dotted 
line  in  the  figure,  and  if  w be  the  load  in  pounds  upon  a 
square  foot  of  the  surface,  then  the  proper  values  being 
substituted  for  the  leverage  and  breadth  in  equation,  (14), 

fd2  (CD2 + DB2) 

w— — (lb-) 

CFF-j-DB2  v 

The  strength  of  a seines  of  steps  bearing  upon  one  ano- 
ther, as  in  the  perspective  sketch,  fig.  6,  may  be  determined 
with  sufficient  accuracy  by  the  last  equation,  supposing  the 
depth  to  be  the  mean  vertical  depth  of  any  one  step ; as, 
for  example,  taken  at  GFI  in  fig.  7,  the  figure  showing  the 
ends  of  the  steps. 

42.  The  case  to  which  equation  (14)  applies,  affords  the 
most  convenient,  as  well  as  the  most  accurate,  means  of 
determining  the  value  of  f for  any  material ; and,  suppos- 
ing it  to  be  one-fourth  of  the  absolute  cohesion  (§  34),  the 
last  column  of  the  following  table  of  experiments  gives  its 
value  for  various  stones,  mortars,  & c.  in  the  nearest  simple 
numbers  under  the  calculated  value. 


Table  I — Experiments  on  the  Transverse  Strength  of  Stones , fyc.  to  the  Case  Equation  (14.) 


No.  of 
Expts. 

Substance  tried- 

Weight  of  a 
Cubic  Foot. 

Length  l. 

Depth  d. 

Breadth  b. 

Breaking 

Weight. 

Values  off=  i 
of  the  absolute 
strength  of  a 
Square  Foot. 

1 

Statuary  marble, 

169-12  lbs. 

15  inches. 

1-075  in. 

1-075 

25  lbs. 

65,000  lbs. 

2 

Ditto, 

• • • 

7-5 

1-08 

1-05 

55 

73,000 

3 

Ditto, 

• • • 

7 

1-075 

1-075 

65 

78,000 

4 

Dundee  stone 

163-80 

7 

1-5 

1-45 

207 

95,000 

5 

Portland  stone, 

132 

21 

1-5 

2 

28 

28,000 

6 

Ditto, 

... 

12 

1-45 

2 

50 

30,000 

7 

Ditto, 

6 

1-55 

2-07 

135 

35,000 

8 

Ditto, 

15 

1-25 

1-2 

30 

26,000 

9 

Craigleith  white  sandstone, 

147-6 

7 

1-55 

1-55 

68-5 

26,000 

10 

"White  sandstone  from  Hailes  Quarry 

134-8 

7 

1-5 

1-55 

61-5 

26,000 

11 

White  sandstone  from  Longannet,... 

138-25 

9 

1-525 

1-45 

46 

26,000 

12 

Ditto, 

4-5 

1-45 

1-525 

80 

23,000 

13 

Ditto, 

... 

3.5 

1-55 

1-55 

116-5 

24,000 

14 

Bath  stone, 

... 

2-75 

1 

1 

29 

17,000 

15 

Red  porphyry, 

2-5 

0-4 

1 

60 

101,000 

16 

Welsh  roof  slate, 

6 

0-25 

n 

30 

414,000 

17 

Scotch  roof  slate, 

6 

0-25 

H 

25 

345,000 

18 

Common  brick,  new, 

... 

4 

2-5 

4 

201-5 

6,900 

19 

Ditto  old, 

... 

4 

2-5 

4 

171-5 

5,900 

20 

Best  stock  brick, 

... 

4 

2-5 

4 

222 

7,600 

21 

Mortar  from  an  old  castle  in  Sussex, 

... 

3 

1 

1 

18-5 

12,000 

22 

23 

Mortar,  common, 

Mortar  in  the  joints  of  two  inch  4 

• • • 

0-75 

0-35 

1-5. 

11-5 

9,300 

cubes  of  stone,  one  month  after  > 
being  joined, ) 

... 

8 pou. 

2 pou. 

2 pou. 

6-75  liv. 

1,400 

Numbers  18,  19,  and  20,  are  from  Barlow’s  Essay  on  the 
Strength  of  Timber,  (p.  250),  each  being  a mean  of  three 
trials.  Number  23  is  from  Rondelet’s  Traite  de  V Art  de 
batir , (tome  iii.  p.  377),  lowest  result;  the  rest  of  the  ex- 
periments were  made  by  the  writer  of  this  article. 

We  have  not  here  availed  ourselves  of  the  experiments  of 
Gauthey  (Rozier’s  Journal  de  Physique,  tome  iv.)  on  the 
transverse  strength  of  stones ; because  those  he  fixed  at  one 
end  appear  to  have  been  injured  in  fixing,  and  only  a cal- 
culated result  is  given  for  the  other  specimens  supported 


at  both  ends.  As  to  this,  see  the  article  on  the  Strength 
of  Materials. 

43.  Several  experiments  have  also  been  made,  with  the 
intention  of  measuring  the  direct  resistance  to  extension  or 
compression ; but  theory  indicates  so  nice  an  adjustment 
of  the  direction  of  the  straining  force  as  necessary  in  these 
experiments,  that  the  reader  may  expect  the  results  to  differ 
as  widely  amongst  themselves  as  they  are  found  to  differ 
from  theoretical  calculation. 


4v 


MASONRY. 


113 


Masonry. 


Table  II — Experiments  on  the  Direct  Resistance  of  Stones,  fyc.  to  the  Case  Equation  (]3.)  Masonry. 


No.  of 
Expts. 

Substance  tried. 

Wejght  °f  Areaof 

a<?ublc  Specimen, 
root. 

Weight 
that  pulled 
it  asunder. 

Value  of f=\ 
of  the  absolute 
strength  of  a 
Square  Foot. 

1 

Hard  stone  of  Givry, 

147  lbs.  96  lines 

164  livres 

8,400  lbs. 

2 

Tender  stone  of  Givry, 

130  324 

183 

1,400 

3 

Mortar  of  sand  and  lime  sixteen  years  old, 

...  j 1 pouce 

53 

1,800 

4 

Plaster  of  Paris, 

1 

76 

2,500 

5 

Adhesion  of  mortar  to  lias  stone,  joined  six  months, 

! 4 

64 

547 

6 

Adhesion  of  mortar  to  brick,  joined  six  months, 

i 4 

138 

1,180 

7 

Adhesion  of  mortar  to  tile,  joined  six  months, 

1 4 

141 

1,200 

The  experiments,  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  G,  and  7,  are  extracted 
from  Rondelet’s  E Art  de  batir,  (tome  i.  p.  312.)  Nos.  1 
and  2,  are  by  Gauthey,  (Rozier’s  Journal  de  Physique,  tome 
iv.  p.  414.) 

44.  In  the  resistance  to  actual  fracture,  from  a compres- 
sive force,  the  joint  effect  of  cohesion  and  friction  is  con- 
cerned, and,  therefore,  a much  greater  force  is  required  to 
crush  than  to  tear  asunder  the  same  quantity  of  material. 
The  resistance  to  fracture  might  be  investigated  on  principles 
analogous  to  those  we  intend  to  employ  in  determining  the 
pressure  of  earth  against  retaining  walls,  &c.  (See  the  article 
Carpentry.)  But  we  conceive,  that  it  is  neither  prudent, 
nor  useful,  nor  necessary,  to  load  the  parts  of  a structure  be- 
yond that  limit  we  have  made  the  basis  of  our  investigation. 


(See  § 34.)  Rondelet  has  observed,  that  the  load  under 
which  a stone  began  to  split  was  nearly  always  two-thirds 
of  that  which  crushed  it ; but  that  stone  of  some  kinds  began 
to  split  with  half  the  load  that  crushed  it,  ( EArt  de  batir, 
iii.  86  et  101).  The  value  of/ should,  therefore,  not  exceed 
one-fourth  of  the  force  which  splits  stone,  and  supposing 
the  splitting  froce  to  be  always  half  the  crushing  one,  we 
shall  have  /—one-eighth  of  the  crushing  force. 

45.  In  this,  as  in  the  preceding  tables,  the  reader  will 
observe,  that  the  results  of  all  experiments  are  given  in  the 
original  weights  and  measures ; but  that  the  value  of f and 
the  weight  of  a cubic  foot,  are  in  English  pounds  avoirdu- 
pois, and  for  an  English  foot.  The  foreign  weights  and 
measures  are  distinguished  by  their  foreign  names. 


Table  III. — Experiments  on  the  Resistance  to  Crushing . 


No.  of 
Expts. 


Substance  tried. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 
9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 
21 
22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 


Porphyry, 

* 

Granite,  Aberdeen  blue, 

Peterhead,  hard  and  close  grained, 

Cornish, 

gray,.... 

rose  Oriental, 

Marble,  white  statuary, 

' ? * 

‘ * 

veined  white,  Italian, 

variegated  red,  Devonshire, 

Dundee  stone, 

Craigleith  stone,  with  strata, 

Do., 

Bromley  Fall  sandstone  near  Leeds,  with  the  strata, 

Portland  stone, 

Do., 

Culello  white  sandstone, 

Yorkshire  paving  stone, 

Hard  stone  of  Givry 

Tender  stone  of  Givry, 

Saillancourt  stone,  of  which  the  arches  of  the  { 

bridge  of  Neuilly  are  constructed, f 

Fourneaux  stone,  used  for  the  pillars  of  All  ( 

Saints,  at  Angers, J 

Bagneux  stone,  used  for  the  lower  part  of  the  { 

pillars  of  the  pantheon  at  Paris, f 

Stone  used  for  the  bridge  of  St.  Maxence, 

Caserte  stone,  in  Italy, 

Stone  of  which  the  temples  at  Paestum  are  built,... 
Travertino,  of  which  the  chief  of  the  ancient  j 

buildings  at  Rome  are  built, f 

Derbyshire  grit,  a friable  red  sandstone, 


Weight  of  a 
Cubic  Foot. 

Area  of  Spe- 
cimen. 

Weight  that 
crushed  it. 

Value  of /=  l of 
the  Crushing 
Force  for  a 
Square  Foot. 

179-44  lbs. 

20  lines 

5,208  livres 

640,000  lbs. 

174-9 

4 pouces 

119,808 

500,000 

164-06 

2-25  inch. 

24,556  lbs. 

196,000 

2-25 

18,636 

149,000 

166-37 

2-25 

14,302 

114,000 

171-06 

4 pouces 

39,168  livres 

165,000 

166-32 

4 

52,704 

220,000 

172-5 

2-25  inch. 

13,632 

109,000 

1 

3,216 

57,000 

168-37 

4 pouces 

19,584  livres 

83,000 

170-37 

2-25  inch. 

21,783  lbs. 

174,000 

. . . 

2-25 

16,172 

129,000 

158-12 

2-25 

14,918 

119,000 

153-25 

2-25 

15,550 

124,000 

2-25 

12,346 

98,000 

156-62 

2-25 

13,632 

109,000 

151-43 

2-25 

10,284 

82,000 

• • • 

4 

14,918 

67,000 

151-43 

2-25 

10,264 

82,000 

156-68 

2-25 

12,856 

102,000 

147-31 

324  lines 

11,208  livres 

85,000 

129-43 

576 

5,880 

25,000 

141-31 

4 pouces 

7,280 

30,000 

160-68 

4 

26,600 

110,000 

137-12 

25  centim. 

6,125  kilog. 

62,000 

156-25 

4 pouces 

23,380  livres 

97,000 

169-87 

4 

36,142 

150,000 

140-87 

4 

13,720 

58,000 

147-37 

4 

18,112 

77,000 

144-75 

2-25  inch 

7,070  lbs. 

56,000 

114 

Masonry. 


MASONRY. 


Masonry. 


No  of 
Expts. 

Substance  tried. 

Weight  of  a 
Cubic  Foot. 

Area  of  Spe- 
cimen. 

Weight  that 
crushed  it. 

Value  of /=§  of 
the  Crushing 
Force  for  a 
Square  Foot. 

31 

Ditto,  from  another  quarry, 

151-75 

2-25 

9,776 

78,000 

32 

Roe  stone,  Gloucestershire, 

2-25 

1,449 

11,500 

33 

Tufa,  from  Rome, 

76-00 

4 pouces 

3,520 

15,000 

34 

Chalk, 

2-25  inch. 

1,127  lbs. 

9,000 

35 

Pumice-stone, 

37-81 

4 pouces 

2,100 

8,900 

36 

Brick,  hal’d  and  well  burnt, 

97-31 

378  lines 

5,280 

34,000 

37 

pale  red, 

130-31 

2-25  inch. 

1,265  lbs. 

10,100 

38 

red,  mean  of  two  trials, 

135-5 

2-25 

1,817 

14,500 

39 

40 

Stourbridge  fire, 

Mortar  of  lime  and  sand  well  beat  together,  18  ) 

118-31 

2-25 

3,864 

30,900 

months  old,... j 

4 pouces 

2,552  livres 

10,900 

41 

Do.  16  years  old, — 

4 

2,864 

12,000 

42 

Do.  not  beaten,  18  months  old....... .............. 

101-56 

4 

1,866 

7,900 

43 

Do.  of  lime  and  pit  sand,  18  months  old, 

99-25 

4 

2,475 

10,600 

44 

Do.  beaten  together,  18  months  old, 

118-93 

4 

3,420 

14,600 

45 

Do.  of  lime  and  pounded  tiles,  18  months  old, 

91-06 

4 

2,896 

12,300 

46 

Do.  beaten  together,  18  months  old,. 

103-93 

4 

3,970 

16,900 

47 

Do.  do.  16  years  old, 

4 

4,948 

21,000 

48 

Do.  from  an  ancient  wall  at  Rome, 

89-37 

4 

4,248 

18,000 

49 

Do.  from  the  Pont  du  Gard, 

93-75 

4 

3,090 

13,000 

50 

Lastrico,  brought  from  Naples, 

62-5 

4 

4,664 

19,400 

Actual 
load  put 
on  stone 
in  practice 


The  experiments,  Nos.  1,  21,  22,  and  36,  were  made  by 
Gauthey.  (Rozier,  Journal  de  Physique , tome  iv.  p.  406.) 
Those  numbered  3,  4,  5,  8,  9,  11,  to  20,  30,  31,  32,  34, 
37,  38,  and  39,  were  made  by  Mr.  George  Rennie.  ( Philo- 
sophical Transactions  for  tire  year  1818.)  The  others  were 
made  by  Rondelet.  ( Trade  de  V Art  de  hdtir , tome  i.  and 
tome  iii.)  We  have  selected  those  which  will  be  most 
useful,  with  others  of  a more  interesting  and  curious  nature ; 
such  are  Rondelet’s  experiments  on  the  effect  of  beating 
mortar,  the  strength  and  density  of  ancient  mortar,  and  the 
resistance  of  stones  used  in  ancient  and  in  modern  structures. 

46.  It  was  observed  by  M.  Rondelet,  in  the  course  of  his 
very  numerous  experiments,  that  it  was  not  the  heaviest 
stones  which  offered  the  greatest  degree  of  resistance  to 
compression,  but  those  of  a fine  even  grain  and  close  tex- 
ture, with  a deep  colour ; that  of  granites,  the  most  com- 
pact and  perfectly  crystallized  were  the  strongest,  ( L’Art  de 
batir,  tom.  i.  213,  215);  and  that,  when  all  other  qualities 
were  the  same,  the  strength  was  in  proportion  to  some  func- 
tion of  the  specific  gravity. 

The  writers  who  have  contributed  to  our  experimental 
knowledge  of  the  strength  of  stones  are  not  numerous.  The 
chief  are  Emerson,  in  his  Mechanics , 4to.  ed.  p.  115; 
Gauthey,  in  his  Memoire  sur  la  Charge  que peuvent porter 
les  Pierres  in  Rozier’s  Journal  de  Physique , tome  iv. 
1774,  and  in  his  Construction  des  Ponts,  tome  i.  p.  267 ; 
Coulomb,  in  his  Memoires  presentes  a 1’  Academic,  1773; 
Rondelet,  in  his  Traite  de  VArt  de  batir , tome  i.  et  iii. 
(The  latter  volume  contains  the  experiments  made  by  Per- 
ronet  and  Soufflot)  ; Rennle,  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  for  1 81 8,  or  Philosophical  Magazine , vol.  liii. ; 
and  Tredgold,  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine,  vol.  lvi.  p. 
290. 

47.  The  last  column  in  each  of  the  three  tables  of  expe- 
riments shows  the  greatest  load  that  we  suppose  should  be 
borne  by  a superficial  foot  of  the  different  kinds  of  stone 
contained  in  those  tables.  We  now  propose  to  give  the 


results  of  some  calculations  respecting  the  extent  to  which 
stone  has  in  practice  been  loaded.  The  foreign  ones  are 
reduced  to  our  own  weights  and  measures,  and  the  whole 
stated  in  round  numbers. 

The  pillars  of  the  Gothic  church  of  All-Saints  at  Angers, 
of  the  stone,  No.  24,  Table  III.  support  on  each  superficial 
foot  a pressure  of  86,000  lbs.1  The  pillars  of  the  dome  of 
the  Pantheon  at  Paris,  the  lower  part  of  which  are  of  Bag- 
neux  stone,  (No.  2151,  Table  III.),  support  on  each  superfi- 
cial foot  60,000  lbs.'1  The  pillar  in  the  centre  of  the  chap- 
ter-house at  Elgin,  which  is  of  red  sandstone,  supports  on 
each  superficial  foot  40,000  lbs.3  The  piers  which  support 
the  dome  of  St.  Paul’s,  in  London,  sustain  a pressure  on 
each  superficial  foot  of  39,0001bs.2  The  piers  which  sup- 
port the  dome  of  St.  Peter’s  at  Rome,  sustain  a pressure  on 
each  superficial  foot  of  33,000  lbs.2  The  pressure  on  the 
key-stone  (No.  23,  Table  III.)  of  the  Bridge  of  Neuilly  has 
been  estimated  for  each  superficial  foot  at  18,000  lbs.4 

In  regard  to  these  examples  we  have  to  remark,  that  the  cal- 
culators of  them  have  considered  the  pressures  as  uniformly 
distributed  over  the  pressed  surface ; but  this  can  only  be 
true  when  the  direction  of  the  resultant  of  the  straining  force 
coincides  with  the  axis  of  the  pier  or  pillar ; besides,  stones 
cannot  be  wrought  absolutely  level,  nor  bedded  in  perfect 
contact.  From  these  circumstances,  the  strength  of  piers, 
columns,  pillars,  and  arch-stones,  should  be  estimated  by 
equation  (12),  and  when  the  line  of  direction  falls  within 
the  pier,  always  making  y — half  the  least  dimension  of  the 
section,  an  allowance  which  will  include  the  effect  of  the 
greatest  possible  inequality  of  action.  We  shall,  in  that 
case,  have 

fbP 

dff6d-~ 4““''  (17.) 

2 

If  the  pressure  on  the  Bagneux  stone  in  the  piers  of  the 
dome  of  the  Pantheon  at  Paris  be  estimated  by  this  for- 


1 Gauthey,  Rozier’s  Journal  de  Physique,  tom.  iv  p.  409,  and  Construction  des  Fonts,  tom.  i.  p.  273. 

2 Rondelet,  L'Art  de  batir,  tom.  iii.  p 74. 

3 Telford,  Edinburyh  Encyclopedia,  Art.  Bridge,  p.  505. 

* Gauthey,  Construction  des  Ponts,  tome  i.  p.  260. 

v 


MASONRY. 


walls. 


Masonry,  mula,  it  will  be  found  that  it  is  sufficient  to  split  the  stones, 

' v"-7  and  this  has  actually  happened.1 

Principles  48.  The  chief  elements  of  the  theory  of  arches  have 
of  arches,  already  been  given  in  the  Article  Bridge,  (sect,  ii.)  to 
domes,  &c.  which  we  refer  the  reader,  at  the  same  time  expressing  a 
hope  that  the  excellent  article  referred  to  will  be  useful  in 
correcting  some  absurd  notions  respecting  catenarian  and 
other  curves,  which  are  too  commonly  entertained.  The 
conical  support  of  the  lantern  of  St.  Paul’s  is  a fine  example 
of  an  appropriate  form,  whilst  the  catenarian  dome  of  the 
French  Pantheon  exemplifies  a scientific  blunder  of  the 
first  magnitude.2 

The  principles  of  domes,  of  groins,  and  of  vaulting  of 
' every  kind,  are  the  same  as  those  of  arches,  excepting  that 
each  kind  has  its  peculiar  manner  of  distributing  the  load 
on  the  different  parts.  See  prop.  M and  N,  art.  Bridge. 

Of  the  Pressure  of  Earth,  Fluids , fyc.,  against  Walls. 

Pressure  49.  When  a high  bank  of  earth,  or  a fluid,  is  to  be  sus- 
of  earth  tained  by  a wall,  as  it  is  often  necessary  to  do  in  forming 
agamst  bridges,  locks,  quays,  reservoirs,  docks,  and  military  works, 
the  construction  is  very  expensive,  however  economical  the 
means  employed  may  be ; hence  it  is  desirable  to  devote 
some  space  to  an  object  of  which  the  importance  is  manifest. 

Let  EC,  Plate  CCCXLV.  fig.  8,  be  the  line  according  to 
which  the  earth  would  separate,  if  the  wall  were  to  yield  in 
a small  degree ; then  AEC  will  represent  the  section  of 
the  prism  of  earth,  the  pressure  of  which  causes  the  wall  to 
yield. 

Put  W=the  weight  of  the  prism  AEC,  when  its  length  is 
unity. 

R=.the  resistance  of  the  wall,  when  its  length  is  unity. 
«=tlie  angle  EC«,  which  the  plane  of  fracture  makes 
with  a vertical  line. 

e=the  angle  A Co,  which  the  back  of  the  wall  makes 
with  a vertical  line. 

F=the  friction  of  the  earth  when  the  pressure  is 
unity. 

//  = the  vertical  height  of  the  wall  aC  in  feet, 
and  S=the  weight  of  a cubic  foot  of  earth,  water,  or  other 
matter  to  be  supported. 

If  g be  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  prism  of  earth,  the 
triangles  rpg,  CaE,  being  similar,  the  effort  of  the  prism  to 
slide,  in  the  direction  EC,  reduced  for  the  friction,  will  be 
_W(1  — F tan,  a) 

sec.  a \ v 

This  effort  is  to  be  opposed  by  the  resistance  of  the  wall, 
which  let  us  suppose  to  be  collected  at  c,  the  centre  of 
pressure,  and,  reducing  it  to  the  direction  CE,  the  effect  of 
friction  being  allowed  for,  it  becomes 
R(F+  tan.  a) 

(19.) 


Hence,  in  the  case  of  equilibrium, 

W(1 — F tan.  a)  R(F  + tan.  a ) 
sec.  a sec.  a ’ 

Or, 

V b -f-tan.  a J 

50.  But,  in  the  case  now  considered. 


115 

Masonry. 


(20.) 


unity. 


PS  t 

Wzz—  (tan.  i 


tan.  c 


the 

Therefore,  R = 
F tan.  An 


radius  being 


(21-1 


PS  F (tan,  a — tan,  c ) x_(  1 - 
TL  F + tan.  a J‘ 

And,  from  the  state  of  the  variable  quantities  in  this 
equation,  it  is  obvious  that  it  has  a maximum  value,  which 
determines  the  angle  of  fracture.  By  the  principles  of 
maxima  and  minima,  the  maximum  pressure  takes  place 
when 

tan.  a=  — F+ (l +F  tan.  c + ^+F2)"  (22.) 

If  the  angle  which  the  plane  of  repose  (Bridge,  Sect.  III.) 
makes  with  a vertical  plane  be  denoted  by  i,  then 

F= — - — ; and  tan.  a — 
tan.  i 

— 1 -{-(tan.  c tan.  3f-{-tan.  2f-{- tan.  c tan.  ? + l)i  (23.) 

tan.  i 

If  the  back  of  the  wall  be  vertical,  tan.  c—o,  and  then 
this  equation  reduces  to  the  simple  form,  which  Prony  ob- 
tained, of  tan.  «=tan.  fi.  (24.) 

51.  When  we  substitute  in  equation  (21)  the  value  of 
the  tan.  a,  which  has  been  found  in  equation  (23),  it  be- 

« 1 • 2 
comes  R=— ; tan.  i + tan.  c.  -j-  - 


2 tan.  i 


tan.  i 


/ . tan.  c+  1 \A  ) 


(25.) 


tan.  i 

And,  when  the  back  of  the  wall  is  vertical,  it  becomes 

R = ^(tan.%>  (26.) 

The  tan.  i being  the  co-tangent  of  the  angle  of  repose,  if 
the  matter  to  be  supported  be  of  so  fluid  a nature  that  it 
naturally  assumes  a sensibly  level  surface  when  at  rest,  the 
tan.  \i  becomes  equal  to  unity,  and  consequently, 

R=~  (27.) 

The  same  result  may  be  obtained  from  the  common  prin- 
ciples of  hydrostatics  in  the  case  of  fluids. 

Since  the  only  variable  quantity  which  enters  into  the 
calculation  of  the  distance  of  the  centre  of  pressure  is  the 
height  h,  whatever  the  nature  of  the  supported  material 
may  be  ; therefore  that  distance  counted  from  the  base  will 
always  be  ^h,  as  in  the  pressure  of  fluids.  (See  Hydro- 
statics.) 


52.  Table  IV. — Table  of  Constant  Quantities  necessary  for  calculating  the  Pressure  of  some  Materials. 


Substance. 

Angle  of 
Repose. 

Weight  of  a 
Cubic  Foot 
= S 

Value  of  R in 
Equation  (26.) 

Value  of  R in 
Equa.  (25)  when 
C2=10°. 

1 

Water, 

0° 

62-5  lbs. 

R=31  \h°- 

R=31-]-/t2 

2 

Fine  dry  sand, 

33° 

92  — 

R=13-8  h2 

ll=4-8/i2 

3 

Do.  moist, 

— 

119  — 

R=17-85/<2 

Rz=6-2/t2 

4 

Quartz  sand  (dry), 

35° 

102  — 

R— 13-77/t2 

R=4-64/t2 

1 Gauthey,  Construction  des  Fonts,  tome  i.  p.  273. 

2 La  charge  considerable  que  cette  voOte  devait  porter  k son  sommet,  a determine  h choisir  pour  la  courbe  de  son  ceintre  la  chainettt. 
( TraitS  l Art  de  bdlir,  ii.  308.) 


116 


M A S O N II  Y. 


Masonry.  In  sand,  clay,  and  earthy  bodies,  the  natural  slopes  should 

'“"~v J be  taken  when  the  material  is  dry,  and  the  clay  and  earth 

pulverised.  When  any  of  these  bodies  are  in  a moist  state, 
the  parts  cohere,  and  the  angle  of  repose  is  greater,  though 
the  friction  be  actually  less.  The  preceding  Table  shews 
that  the  pressure  of  water  is  greater  than  that  of  any  of  the 
other  kinds  of  matter,  and  from  the  nature  of  fluids  it  is 
evident,  that  if  water  be  suffered  to  collect  behind  a re- 
taining wall,  calculated  to  sustain  common  earth  only,  it 
will  most  likely  be  overturned.  Such  accidents  may  be 
prevented  by  making  proper  drains. 

53.  The  preceding  analysis  will  apply,  without  sensible 
error,  to  the  curved  walls  which  have  lately  become  fashion- 
able. Fig.  10  is  a section  of  one  of  these  walls,  as  execut- 
ed from  a design  by  Rennie.  The  vertical  height,  AB,  21 
feet ; the  wall  of  uniform  thickness,  with  counterforts  1 5 
feet  apart ; and  the  front  of  the  walls  described  by  a 69  feet 
radius,  with  the  centre  in  the  horizontal  line  DA  produced. 
The  wall  is  built  of  brick,  and  the  uniform  part  is  4‘5  feet 
thick.  The  radius  is  usually  thrice  the  vertical  height  of 
the  wall ; when  this  proportion  is  adhered  to,  the  angle  c 
will  be  ten  degrees,  for  which  the  value  of  R is  calculated 
in  the  Table. 

Resistance  of  Walls. 

54.  In  the  first  place,  we  propose  to  investigate  the  re- 
sistance a wall  offers  to  being  overturned  ; and,  in  so  doing, 
it  appears  desirable  that  the  resistance  of  the  mortar  in  the 
joints  should  be  considered  one  of  the  elements  of  the 
strength  of  the  wall.  Good  mortar  adds  much  to  the 
firmness  of  walls,  and  still  more  to  their  durability,  and,  all 
things  considered,  its  first  cost  is  less  than  that  of  bad ; be- 
sides, the  resistance  of  mortar  to  compression  must  be  con- 
sidered, for,  in  practice,  we  have  no  perfectly  hard  arrises 
to  fulfil  the  conditions  of  common  mechanical  hypotheses. 

Put  Ar=the  area  of  the  wall. 

«'=tlie  weight  of  a cubic  foot  of  masonry. 
y— the  horizontal  distance,  go,  between  the  vertical 
passing  through  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  wall,  and  the 
point  where  the  axis  cuts  the  plane  of  fracture,  the  same 
notation  being  applied  to  the  other  quantities  as  in  the 
foregoing  equations. 

Let  G,  fig  9,  be  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  wall ; and 
on  the  vertical  Gg  set  off  gl,  the  height  of  the  centre  of 
pressure  : also,  let  IK  represent  A x w—  the  weight  of  the 
wall,  and  HI  the  force  R of  the  earth. 

Then,  completing  the  parallelogram,  El  will  represent 
the  direction  and  intensity  of  the  straining  force  ; conse- 


Resistance 
of  walls. 


, R 

quently,  . ==  tan.  a 

Which  determines  its  direction,  and  its  intensity  is 
A w 

COS  *Ci 

But,  we  have  found,  equa.  (10), 
w 


(28.) 


; and  as  W= 

- ; equa.  (28.) ; l—fh,  art. 


d cos.  a-j-6/  sin.  a -j-  Gy  cos.  a 

Aw f , . \ R 

equa.  (29.)  ; tan.a=:- — 

cos.av  / A w 

51  ; and  bz=  unity ; the  equation  reduces  to  fd - — Adw — 6 
Awy=.2Rk.  (30.) 

If  the  section  of  the  wall  be  a parallelogram,  then  A— hd, 
and  — \h  tan.  c= y ; these  values  of  A and  y being  substi- 
tuted in  equa.  (30),  it  becomes — ichd'-  -\-f  d-  -{-  3h2wd  tan. 
c=2Rh.  (31.) 


Or,  d = 


h-w 


+ 


A 

9 tan.  2c\ 

— * i~'  )• 


-3  tan.  c ( f2\\(f — hw) 
2 * h‘‘w2 


When  the  section  of  the  wall  is  a rectangle  y~  o,  therefore  Masonry, 
equa.  (31)  reduces  to 


(33.) 


d—J  2RA 

f—hw 

This  last  equation  is  also  correct  for  a wall  of  which  the 
back  is  vertical,  and  the  front  sloping.  We  suppress  the  in- 
vestigation, to  afford  the  young  student  an  opportunity  of 
proving  that  the  diminution  of  weight  is  exactly  counter- 
balanced by  the  alteration  of  the  distance  of  the  centre  of 
gravity  from  the  axis. 

The  tendency  of  a wall  to  slide  forward  may  be  easily 
prevented,  by  giving  an  inclination  to  the  joints. 

55.  To  illustrate  these  rules  we  shall  give  two  examples, 
and  in  these  shew  the  construction  of  a table,  which  the 
reader  may  enlarge  at  his  pleasure. 

Example  I.  Let  it  be  required  to  determine  the  thick- 
ness of  a rectangular  wall  for  supporting  the  front  of  a 
wharf  10  feet  in  height,  the  earth  being  a loose  sand,  and 
the  wall  to  be  built  of  brick. 

The  weight  of  a cubic  foot  of  brick-work  may  be  esti- 
mated at  100  lbs.,  and  the  resistance  of  mortar  being  valu- 
ed at  5000  lbs  .per  superficial  foot,  the  experimental  value 
being  7900  lbs.,  Table  III.  Experiment  42,  and  the  differ- 
ence an  allowance  for  any  irregularity  in  building,  conse- 
quently, f=  5000 ; ?e=:100  ; and  by  Table  IV.  R = 13’8A2 ; 
hence  equa. 

, d=  J 2R/<  = J 2 X 13-8 

f—hw  5000 — 1 00/« 

Z»3 

. When  h—  10  feet,  then  the  thickness  of 

181— 3-62A 

the  wall  d—  2‘644  feet.  If  h be  made  successively  10,  20, 
30,  40,  &c.  feet,  the  numbers  under  the  head  of  dry  sand 
in  the  following  Table  will  be  obtained,  observing  that 
they  are  only  calculated  to  the  nearest  tenth  of  a foot. 

The  proper  thickness  being  found  for  supporting  one 
kind  of  material,  that  for  any  other  may  be  easily  deter- 
mined ; as  the  thickness  varies  as  the  square  root  of  R, 
equa.  (33)-  Let  the  thickness  for  dry  sand  be  d,  then 

*/l3-8  i av/31'25  : : d‘.  L 5d  the  thickness  for  supporting 

water,  1 3"8  :*/ 17*85 ’ 'd  lT4rf  the  thickness  for  sup- 

porting moist  sand.  In  this  manner,  by  means  of  Tabie 
IV.  the  thicknesses  for  other  kinds  are  easily  calculated. 

Example  II.  If  a retaining  wall  be  intended  to  support 
a sandy  and  loose  kind  of  earth,  to  be  constructed  of  brick, 
and  to  be  inclined  10  degrees  from  the  vertical,  the  thick- 
ness being  uniform  ; it  is  required  to  determine  that  thick- 
ness for  any  given  height. 

_ , . , hsw  f 3 tan.  c 

By  equa.  (32),  d=^-—f + 


(33) 


J 


m c=10°,  tan.  c-18, 
lienee  — =-27,  and  its  square = '0729.  Also  /— 5000, 


and  W— 100,  consequently,  d= 


h- 

50 ~—h 


(_.2-+yA^%.0729) 

Id 

For  sandy  earth  R=4-8/<2,  therefore  d=— — 5 
" 50 — n 


(32) 


t . - 4*3  \ 

[ — -J '0113)  ; and  making  h successively  10, 

20,  & c.  feet,  the  numbers  obtained  will  be  the  same  within 


MASON  R Y. 


1 17 


Masonry,  one-tenth  of  a foot,  as  those  in  the  following  Table,  co- 
lomn  fifth. 


56.  Table  V A Table  of  the  Thicknesses  for  Retaining 

Walls,  Revetments,  Dock-walls,  §c. 


Height  of 
Wall. 

Thickness  of  Rectangular  AValls 
to  support. 

Thickness  of 
Leaning  and 
Curved  Walls 
for  supporting 
Dry  Sand,  the 
angle  of  incli- 
nation being 
10°. 

Water. 

Dry  Sand. 

Moist  Sand 

1 0 feet 
20 
30 
40 

4-0  feet 
12-9 
29-2 
62-5 

2-7  feet 
8-6 

19-4 

41-7 

3T  feet 
9-8 
22-2 
47-5 

M feet 
2-8 
5-2 
9-2 

Our  investigation  informs  us  that  the  mortar  of  high  walls 
must  be  of  a superior  strength  ; indeed,  we  know  that  when 
its  consolidation  takes  place,  under  considerable  pressure,  it 
is  of  much  greater  strength.  According  to  what  function 
of  the  pressure  the  strength  increases,  we  have  not  experi- 
ments to  determine,  and  we  therefore  point  out  the  circum- 
stance to  the  notice  of  experimental  inquirers. 

Construe-  57.  The  preceding  analysis  being  confined  to  the  condi- 
tion of  tions  under  which  the  equilibrium  could  not  be  disturbed  by 

M alls.  jpg  pressure,  it  would  he  quite  unnecessary  to  consider  the 

phenomena  of  actual  fracture,  if  it  were  not  for  the  proof 
which  even  these  phenomena  afford  of  the  defects  of  the 
common  mode  of  constructing  these  walls.  The  back  of  the 
wall  is  generally  formed  of  inferior  materials,  hence  the 
technical  term  /ace  mortar  and  backing  mortar  ; but,  even 
with  inferior  mortar,  the  workmanship  is  so  carelessly  done, 
towards  the  back  of  the  wall,  that  when  it  fractures  a por- 
tion is  left  behind.  A moment’s  attention  to  the  direction 
of  the  pressure  (see  fig.  9)  must  shew  the  importance  of 
using  good  mortar,  and  making  good  bond  at  the  back  of 
the  wall ; if  any  part  be  neglected  it  ought  to  be  the  middle, 
which  is  of  least  importance,  provided  the  wall  be  well  bound 
together  by  cross  bond  stones. 

The  strength  of  a wall  to  sustain  earth  will  always  be 
greatly  increased  by  any  roughness  or  irregularity  in  the 
back  of  the  wall,  such  as  projecting  stones  or  bricks  ; in 
stone  work  it  is  easy  to  gain  much  stability  by  this  means. 
The  friction  against  a smooth  Mrall  must  add  much  to  its 
strength ; we  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  include  its 
effect  in  our  calculations,  but  intend  that,  with  counterforts, 
it  should  be  considered  as  a set-off  against  accidental  pres- 
sures, &c.’ 

Counterforts  are  usually  placed  at  about  three  times  the 
thickness  of  the  wall  apart,  and  are  made  of  the  same  width 
as  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  In  fig.  1 1 is  shewn  a plan  for 
building  a wall  to  sustain  the  pressure  of  earth  according  to 
the  form  proposed  by  Vitruvius,  (lib.  vi.  cap.  ix.)  And 
fig.  12  is  a plan  from  Perrault’s  Notes.  Various  other  plans 
have  been  proposed,  the  chief  of  which  Colonel  Pasley  has 
collected  in  his  Course  of  Fortification  ; but  most  of  them 
have  little  to  recommend  them.  It  seems  desirable  that 
every  kind  of  curved  work  should  be  avoided  ; and  perhaps 
that  plan  which  unites  the  most  economy  with  the  greatest 
stability  is  shewn  by  figs.  13  and  14,  Plate  CCCXLVI. 
The  spaces  A,  A,  A,  are  proposed  to  he  filled  with  gravel 
or  fragments  of  stone  ; the  whole  of  the  stone-work  to  be 
well  bonded  ; and  the  front  and  back  wall  of  that  thickness 
which  is  best  suited  for  bond,  in  the  kind  of  material  to  be 
employed. 


Masonry. 

Bond  of  Walls  and  Cramps. 

58.  It  is  not  sufficient  to  depend  entirely  upon  the  ce-  ■Bon(1  °* 
menting  power  of  mortar  in  the  construction  of  walls  ; the wa  s‘ 
stones  themselves  should  also  be  bound  together  by  their 
disposition.  The  art  of  disposing  stones  for  this  purpose  is 
called  bonding.  Part  of  the  longest  stones  should  be  em- 
ployed to  bind  the  M ali  in  length,  and  the  other  part  to  bind 
it  cross-ways  ; the  former  are  called  stretchers,  the  latter 
headers. 

Figs.  15,  16,  17,  18,  and  19,  shew  various  methods  of 
bonding  walls  ; these  are  selected  from  Greek  and  Roman 
examples.  The  courses  of  stone  are  often  irregular,  as  in 
fig.  17  ; and  in  some  works  we  find  both  irregular  courses 
and  broken  ones ; that  is,  such  as  are  intercepted  by  large 
blocks  of  stone.  Broken  courses  should  be  avoided,  because 
they  occasion  irregular  settlements. 

The  bond  of  walls  requires  to  be  most  carefully  attended 
to  in  the  construction  of  piers,  angles,  and,  in  general,  every 
part  exposed  to  great  strain. 

On  this  subject  it  may  also  be  remarked,  that  crossing 
the  joints  properly  is  a more  effectual  means  of  bonding  a 
wall  than  that  of  employing  very  long  stones,  unless  they  be 
very  strong  ones.  For  if  a stone  exceed  about  three  times 
its  thickness  in  length,  it  cannot  be  so  equally  bedded  but 
that  it  is  liable  to  break  from  unequal  pressure  ; and  the 
fracture  commonly  takes  place  opposite  to  a joint,  and  there- 
fore destroys  the  bond  of  the  wall.  This  defective  mode  of 
construction  we  have  often  had  occasion  to  notice. 

In  works  of  hewn  stones  destined  to  support  great  pres- 
sure, or  to  bear  the  action  of  a heavy  sea,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  stones  should  be  of  great  bulk,  and  connected  in 
the  firmest  manner.  Sometimes  this  is  effected  by  forming 
the  stones  so  as  to  lock  them  together.  The  Eddystone  and 
Bell-Rock  Light-houses  are  bound  together  at  the  base  on 
this  principle. 

Where  less  strength  is  required,  iron  cramps  are  used, 
and  sometimes  pieces  of  hard  stone  are  dove-tailed  into  the 
adjoining  blocks.  We  think  cramps  of  cast-iron  might  be 
employed  with  much  advantage  in  all  these  cases. 

59-  The  proper  quantity  of  mortar  to  be  employed  in 
stone-work  is  another  point  to  which  it  M ill  be  useful  to  di- 
rect the  mason’s  attention.  A stone  cannot  be  very  firmly 
bedded  upon  a very  thin  layer  of  mortar ; and  if  the  stone 
be  of  an  absorbent  nature,  the  mortar  will  dry  too  rapidly  to 
acquire  any  tolerable  degree  of  hardness,  (Vitruvius,  lib.  ii. 
cap.  viii.),  however  well  it  may  have  been  prepared.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  bed  of  mortar  be  thicker  than  is  neces- 
sary to  bed  the  stone  firmly,  the  work  will  be  a long  time 
in  settling,  and  will  never  be  perfectly  stable. 

When  the  internal  part  of  a wall  is  built  with  fragments 
of  stone,  they  should  be  closely  packed  together,  so  as  to 
require  as  little  mortar  as  possible.  Walls  are  often  bulged 
by  the  hydrostatic  pressure  of  mortar,  M’hen  it  is  too  plen- 
tifully thrown  into  the  interior,  to  save  the  labour  of  filling 
the  spaces  with  stones. 

The  Myalls  of  houses  are  frequently  built  with  hewn  stone 
on  the  outside,  and  rubble  stone  on  the  inside.  The  settle- 
ment of  these  two  kinds  of  stone-work  during  the  setting  of 
the  mortar  are  so  different,  that  the  walls  often  separate ; 
or  where  this  separation  is  prevented  by  bond  stones,  the 
wall  bulges  outwards,  and  bears  unequally  on  its  base.  These 
evils  are  best  prevented  by  using  as  little  mortar  as  possible 
in  the  joints  of  the  interior  part  of  the  M all,  and  not  raising 
the  wall  to  a great  height  at  one  time. 

Foundations. 

60.  The  nature  of  the  materials  employed  in  masonry  1 0lin<’a‘ 

1 J J tions. 


1 See  Philosophical  Magazine,  vol  li.  p.  401,  where  the  effect  of  such  friction  is  considered. 


118  MASONRY. 


Masonry,  having  been  considered,  and  also  the  methods  of  uniting 
"■“"v— them,  we  have,  in  the  next  place,  to  turn  our  attention  to 
the  nature  of  those  foundations  on  which  it  is  commonly  re- 
quired to  raise  permanent  structures  of  such  heavy  matter. 

In  founding  on  dry  ground,  the  nature  of  the  foundation 
is  ascertained  without  much  difficulty.  When  it  is  found  to 
be  of  firm  hard  rock,  that  will  bear  the  action  of  the  weather, 
no  particular  precautions  are  necessary ; but  in  all  other 
cases  it  is  desirable  to  level  the  trenches  to  such  a depth  as 
will  prevent  them  from  being  affected  by  the  change  of  sea- 
sons. Frost,  we  believe,  seldom  penetrates  so  low  as  two 
feet  below  the  surface,  (see  the  article  Climate)  ; but 
in  clayey  ground,  the  effect  of  shrinkage,  by  heat,  is  often 
sensible  at  four  feet  below  the  surface;  for  to  that  depth  the 
cracks  in  summer  often  extend.  Consequently,  in  clay,  the 
depth  of  the  foundations  should  never  be  less  than  four  feet, 
and  in  heavy  buildings,  deeper  in  proportion  to  the  weight 
they  are  to  support. 

In  large  works  it  is  also  necessary  to  examine  the  matter, 
inclination,  and  thickness  of  the  under  strata,  particularly 
when  the  upper  stratum  is  of  inconsiderable  thickness.  For 
this  purpose,  the  older  writers  on  architecture,  with  much 
propriety,  recommend  that  a well  should  be  dug  near  the 
place,  to  ascertain  these  points.  A knowledge  of  the  incli- 
nation and  nature  of  the  strata  will  also  be  of  use  in  plan- 
ning drains,  a subject  of  no  small  importance  to  the  durabi- 
lity and  comfort  of  a mansion. 

In  soft  ground  the  base  of  the  wall  should  be  made  wide, 
and  it  may  be  reduced  to  the  proper  thickness  by  small  off- 
sets or  steps,  as  in  fig.  20.  On  clay  or  dry  sand  the  breadth 
at  the  bottom  may  be  double  the  thickness  of  the  wall.  On 
compact  gravel  or  chalk  the  breadth  may  be  to  the  thickness 
as  3 is  to  2. 

If  the  ground  be  soft  and  wet,  with  a firm  bottom  within 
the  reach  of  piles,  then  piles  may  be  employed  with  advan- 
tage ; but  they  are  very  likely  to  rot  in  a few  years,  where 
the  ground  is  not  wet ; and,  therefore,  in  the  case  of  soft 
ground,  not  sufficiently  wet  to  preserve  piles  from  decay,  we 
should  recommend,  in  preference,  a very  wide  base  or  foot- 
ing, well  bonded  together  with  bars  of  cast-iron,  disposed  so 
that  one  part  could  not  settle  without  causing  the  adjoining 
ones  to  go  down  at  the  same  time  ; and  the  whole  of  the 
base  should,  for  greater  strength,  be  built  in  the  best  water 
cement. 

It  is  a practice  with  some  architects  to  employ  timber 
beams  and  planking  in  such  cases,  and  in  consequence  of  its 
decay,  in  many  instances  it  has  been  necessary  to  replace 
the  timber  with  stone  and  brick  at  an  enormous  expense. 
It  should  be  a maxim  in  construction  never  to  employ  tim- 
ber in  a permanent  structure,  where  it  is  not  either  abso- 
lutely wet  or  perfectly  dry. 

When  ground  is  very  soft  and  wet,  and  the  solid  stratum 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  piles,  a solid  mass  may  be  formed  to 
erect  the  superstructure  upon,  by  means  of  a grating  of  tim- 
ber, planked  over.  The  brick  or  stone-work  which  is  built 
upon  the  planking  should  be  joined  with  a water  cement. 

When  such  ground  is  not  absolutely  wet,  instead  of  plank- 
ing we  would  employ  a connected  grating  of  cast-iron,  with 
stone  or  brick-work  built  in  water  mortar. 

In  all  these  cases  the  greatest  difficulty  consists  in  pre- 
venting irregular  settlements  ; and  hence  the  advantage  of 
employing  wood  or  iron  to  bind  the  base  together,  and  ren- 
der it  as  far  as  possible  an  inflexible  and  solid  mass. 

In  all  edifices  which  press  perpendicularly  on  their  foun- 
dations, the  centre  of  pressure  should  coincide,  as  nearly  as 
may  be,  with  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  surface  which  sus- 
tains it.  In  wharf  walls,  terrace  walls,  abutments  and  piers 
of  bridges,  and  the  like,  the  resultant  of  the  pressures  should 


fall  in  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  surface  which  supports  it.  Masonry. 
Foundations  are  most  difficult  to  manage  where  the  ground  v— 
is  irregular,  particularly  for  highly  finished  buildings,  which 
are  so  much  disfigured  by  a small  settlement.  In  such  cases 
we  would  endeavour  to  procure  an  inflexible  base  by  means 
of  cast-iron  beams.  It  is  a good  plan  to  form  counter  arches 
under  the  openings,  provided  these  arches  be  carefully  built; 
but  where  they  are  not  well  built,  they  yield  so  much  as  to 
be  no  better  than  common  walling.  Excavating  and  re- 
moving the  earth  from  foundations  is  frequently  a consider- 
able part  of  the  expense  of  large  works ; hence  the  peculiar 
species  of  management  which  will  economize  this  branch  of 
labour,  has  become  an  interesting  subject  of  investigation. 

We  intended  to  give  an  outline  of  the  manner  of  treating 
it,  but  we  find  that  it  would  extend  this  article  far  beyond 
its  proper  limits. 

61.  Founding  in  water  may  be  done  in  various  ways ; but  New  me- 
most  of  them  are  very  expensive,  presenting  many  difficulties  thod  of 
in  deep  and  rapid  water.  We  shall  confine  our  attention  to  this  founding  in 
case  only.  The  best  method  now  in  use  consists  in  exclud- vvater> 
ing  the  water  from  the  space  to  be  founded  upon  by  means 

of  a dam,  called  a coffer-dam,  formed  by  rows  of  piles,  with 
bricks  or  clay  between  the  rows.  When  bricks  are  used,  it 
is  necessary  to  caulk  the  interstices  between  pile  and  pile. 

The  space  is  kept  clear  of  water  by  means  of  engines,  and 
the  foundation  deepened  and  piled  if  necessary. 

Considering  the  immense  expense  and  risk  of  life  which 
is  encountered  in  excluding  water  of  thirty  or  forty  feet 
depth,  we  shall  here  propose,  for  suitable  ground,  a more 
economical  and  safe  method,  which  is  adapted  for  founding 
piers,  abutments,  sea-walls,  & c.  The  space  for  the  founda- 
tion being  cleared,  let  the  space  it  is  to  occupy  be  inclosed 
by  a single  row  of  piles,  driven  near  to  one  another,  but  not 
so  close  as  is  necessary  for  a dam.  The  upper  ends  of  these 
piles  must  be  high  enough  for  a stage  to  be  formed  upon 
them;  which  should  be  just  above  the  height  of  floods  or 
tides,  as  the  case  may  be.  From  this  stage  the  ground 
within  the  inclosure  may  be  excavated,  by  means  of  a ma- 
chine, formed  so  as  to  combine  the  principle  of  the  field 
plough  with  that  of  the  dredging-machine.  (See  Dredg- 
ing-Machine.) When  the  foundation  has  been  cleared  to 
a proper  depth  by  this  process,  and  levelled,  the  stone-work 
may  be  built  in  courses  with  a proper  bed  and  joint  of  water 
cement.  (See  sect.  i.  art.  22.)  A simple  machine  might 
easily  be  contrived  for  the  purpose.  If  brick  be  employed 
instead  of  stone,  it  may  be  done  by  forming  the  bricks  into 
blocks  of  three  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches  square,  with 
cement,  and  using  these  blocks  instead  of  stones.  This 
method  of  building  with  blocks  is  already  in  use  for  con- 
structing sewers  in  London.  When  the  work  is  brought  to 
that  height  which  will  enable  the  workmen  to  proceed  in  the 
ordinary  manner,  either  then  or  afterwards,  the  piles  may  be 
cut  off  at  low- water  line,  and  a cap-sill  being  fixed  upon 
their  tops,  they  will  remain,  and  serve  as  a protection  to  the 
work  below  water. 

62.  For  many  purposes  it  would  not  be  necessary  to  ex- 
cavate, nor  yet  to  build  in  courses ; for  example,  let  us  sup- 
pose it  to  be  the  pier  of  a light  bridge,  the  row  of  piles 
being  driven  in  an  elliptical  form,  a strong  chain  should  en- 
circle it  at  one  or  two  places,  and  the  internal  space  filled 
with  rough  stones,  thrown  in  with  water  cement,  to  fill  the 
interstices  between  them.  As  the  cement  indurated,  the 
whole  mass  would  become  one  solid  stone.  This  mode  of 
construction  is  effected  on  the  same  principle  as  that  which 
the  French  term  “ Lesenrochements  en  be  ton;”1  and  wehave 
the  advantage  of  a much  superior  cement  to  any  they  have 
employed. 


Gauthey,  Construction  des  Fonts,  li.  p.  276. 


M A SO  N R Y 


119 


Masonry. 


III. STONE-CUTTING. 


Of  the  beds  6.3.  Before  we  proceed  to  explain  the  methods  of  forming 
or  joining  stones  to  the  particular  shapes  required  for  arches,  vaults, 
surfaces.  Sec.,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  young  mason  shovdd  be 
extremely  careful  to  avoid  making  the  beds  of  stones  con- 
cave or  hollow ; for  if  this  be  done  in  any  case  where  the 
stones  have  to  bear  much  pressure,  they  will  flush,  or  break 
off  in  flakes  at  the  joints,  and  entirely  disfigure  the  work.  It 
is  better  that  they  should  be  slightly  convex.  In  the  con- 
struction of  piers  and  columns,  where  perfectness  of  form  is 
at  least  as  much  regarded  as  strength,  this  maxim  should  be 
carefully  attended  to.  Nothing  can  be  more  offensive  to 
the  eye  than  a flushed  joint,  since  it  not  only  deforms,  but 
also  gives  the  idea  of  want  of  strength. 

Methods  of  64.  Stone-cutting  may  be  equally  well  done  by  various 
stone-cut-  methods  ; the  most  certain  consists  in  forming  as  many 
tin£-  plane  surfaces  to  the  stone  as  may  be  necessary,  in  such 

manner  that  these  surfaces  may  include  the  intended  form, 
with  the  least  waste  of  stone,  or  in  the  most  convenient  way 
for  applying  the  moulds.  Upon  the  plane  surfaces  thus  pre- 
pared, the  proper  moulds  are  to  be  applied,  and  the  stone 
worked  to  them.  It  will  generally  happen  that  the  bed  of 
the  stone  will  be  one  of  the  first  plane  surfaces,  and  the  ar- 
rangement should  always  be  made,  so  that  there  may  be  as 
little  re-working  as  possible.1 

Describing  65.  When  an  arch  is  square  to  the  face  of  the  wall,  the 
arches.  only  difficulty  is  in  drawing  it  to  the  proper  curve.  When 
the  arch  is  circular,  it  may  be  described  from  a centre,  unless 
. the  centre  be  very  distant ; and  in  that  case  a method  pro- 

posed by  Dr.  T.  Young2  will  be  found  extremely  convenient 
for  the  mason’s  purposes.  Fig.  21  represents  the  instru- 
ment. Three  points  in  the  curve  being  known,  it  is  easily 
adjusted  to  the  curve,  and  will  also  answer  as  a mould  in 
many  cases.  AB  is  a straight  bar  of  any  convenient  length ; 
at  each  end,  a small  roller  is  fixed  by  means  of  two  plates 
of  brass ; against  these  rollers  the  elastic  bar  CD  slides  as 
it  adapts  itself  to  a regular  curvature,  when  moved  by  the 
screw  E.  The  natural  form  of  the  elastic  bar  is  shewn  by 
C'  D',  the  depth  in  the  middle,  H,  should  be  double  the 
depth  at  either  end,  and  the  breadth  uniform  throughout  the 
length.  This  bar,  when  of  wood,  should  be  of  straight- 
grained ash,  or  lance-wood ; the  latter  is  best. 

An  elliptic  arch  may  be'  described  by  continued  motion, 
in  the  following  manner.  On  a straight  bar  AB,  fig.  22,  if 
AC  be  made  equal  to  the  height  of  the  arch,  and  CB  equal 
to  half  the  span,  then  if  the.  end  A be  moved  along  a straight 
edge,  ED,  while  the  point  B moves  along  another  straight 
edge,  ED,  the  point  C will  describe  an  ellipse.3  If  the  bar 
be  made  to  move  on  rollers,  an  arch  on  a large  scale  may  be 
easily  and  accurately  described  in  this  way,  when  a tramnael 
would  become  very  unmanageable.  For  other  methods  see 

' EuLIPTO  GRAPH. 

To  find  the  direction  of  the  joints,  with  a radius  equal  to 
half  the  span,  from  the  point  K,  fig.  22,  as  a centre  describe 
the  arc  GH,  which  determines  the  points  G,  II,  called  the 
foci.  Let  it  now  be  required  to  draw  the  joint  I,  join  IG, 
and  IH,  draw  LI  to  bisect  the  angle  GIH,  and  it  is  the  joint 
at  I.  A parabolical  arch  may  be  drawn  very  easily  on  a 
large  scale  by  means  of  tangents.  Make  AE,  fig.  23,  equal 
to  the  rise  CA,  and  join  ED  and  EB.  Draw  FG  parallel  to 
DB,  and  divide  DF  and  EG  (which  are  equal)  each  into  the 
same  number  of  equal  parts,  then  join  11,  22,  33,  &c.,  as  is 


shewn  in  the  figure ; a curve  drawn  to  touch  these  tangents  Masonry, 
is  a parabola.  Arches  are  most  conveniently  drawn  on  a v-— ■ 
large  scale  by  means  of  parallel  ordinates ; and  an  extremely 
simple  method  of  this  kind,  for  a parabolic  arch,  has  been 
described  by  Sir  John  Leslie.  (Inquiry  into  the  Nature  oj 
Heat,  p.  503.)  Let  AB,  fig.  24,  be  the  span,  and  CD  the 
height.  Divide  AB  into  twenty  equal  parts,  and  raise  a 
perpendicular  from  each  point  of  section.  Let  CD  be  100 
by  a scale  of  equal  parts,  make  the  next  ordinate  on  each 
side  99  parts,  or  9 X 11,  by  the  scale ; the  next  pair  of  or- 
dinates make  96  parts,  or  8 x 12,  and  so  on ; those  numbers 
being  respectively  as  the  rectangles  of  the  segments  into 
which  AB  is  divided.  To  draw  the  joints  of  a parabolic 
arch,  let  I be  a point,  at  which  a joint  is  to  be  drawn,  fig. 

24;  draw  Id  parallel  to  BA,  and  make  DT  equal  to  Y)d ; 
join  IT,  and  make  El  perpendicular  to  IT,  which  is  the  joint 
required. 

66.  The  finest  form  for  a Gothic  arch  is  a cubic  parabola,  Gothic 
which  is  easily  constructed  from  its  equation.  Observing  that  arches, 
the  vertex  of  the  curve  is  at  the  springing  of  the  arch,  and 
making  x the  abscissa,  and  y its  corresponding  ordinate,  by 
y3 

the  nature  of  the  curve  x——.  Now,  if  we  make  y suc- 
cessively equal  to  1,  2,  3,  &c.,  feet,  we  shall  have  -=A; 

8 ii  27_  hi  64_  iv  1 25 v 216 vi  343_  vii 

a a 'a  ’a  ’a  ’a 

512  viii  729  ix 

— =x  =:x  ;&c. 

a a 


To  find  a,  when  x is  equal  to  half 


the  span  CD,  fig.  25,  Plate  CCCXLVII,  and  y—  the  height 
AD3 

AD  ; we  have  a — - , . . . If  it  be  desirable  that  the  ordi- 

L U 

nates  should  be  1 — nth  part  of  a foot  apart,  then  divide 
each  by  the  n3,  which  gives  the  dimensions  in  feet. 

Example.  In  a Gothic  building  it  is  proposed  to  make 
an  arch  to  an  opening  10  feet  wide,  the  height  of  which  is 
to  be  4 feet  6 inches  above  the  springing  line.  There  CD 

= 5 feet,  and  AD  = 4-5  feet,  therefore  =— - — = 

CD  5 

18‘225.  And  using  this  number  for  a divisor,  the  ordinates 
are  easily  found,  by  once  setting  a slide  rule,  to  be, 


x 


= ■0548  feet  o =-0068  feet 


ii 

a = -438  ... 
hi 

a = 1-48  ... 

IV 

X - 3 51  ... 
v 

x — 6'86  ... 


ii 

o = -185 


= -857 


And  dividing  the  first,  third,  and  fifth,  each  by  8 (consider- 


i ii  hi 

ingwzz  2),givesthe  intermediate  ordinates;  o , o ,o  . The 
advantage  of  this  method  consists  in  the  facility  of  setting 
out  the  work  on  either  a large  or  small  scale.  Every  prac- 
tical man  is  aware  of  the  trouble  of  dividing  a distance  into 
equal  parts,  or  of  performing  other  geometrical  operations  on 
a platform  or  floor ; but  here,  by  an  easy  arithmetical  ope- 
ration, this  is  avoided.  Draw  the  springing  line  CD,  and 
the  middle  line  AD,  and  let  the  line  EC  be  drawn  parallel 


1 Frazier  may  be  consulted  with  advantage  on  this  subject.  Coupe  des  Pierres,  tome  ii.  p.  14. 

v Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy,  vol.  i.  plate  vi.  fig.  83.  This  instrument  might  be  usefully  applied  in  ship-building. 

3 See  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  vi.  p.  387-  A most  ingenious  extension  of  the  principles  of  describing  curved  lines  has  been  invent- 
ed by  Mr.  Joseph  Jopling,  and  promises  to  be  of  much  use  in  the  arts,  as  well  as  a curious  subject  for  mathematical  speculation.  I he 
system  is  somewhat  obscurely  announced  in  a pamphlet,  entitled  The  Septenary  System  of  Generating  Curves  by  Continued  Motion.  Lon- 
don, 1823. 


120 


M ASON  R Y. 


Masonry.  to  AD.  Beginning  at  D,  make  a mark  at  every  six  inches  tion  of  the  joint.  To  find  the  depth  of  the  key-stone,  let  Masonry. 

the  horizontal  thrust  m— 935  be  multiplied  by  the  mean' 
specific  weight  of  a cubic  foot  of  the  materials  to  form  the 
bridge,  and  calculate  the  depth  by  equation  (17).  Suppose 
the  mean  to  be  160  lbs.,  then  the  horizontal  pressure  will 


v— on  DA,  and  also  on  CE,  beginning  at  C ; then,  through 
these  divisions  draw  the  parallel  ordinates.  Let  the  ab- 
scissas be  measured  off  on  these  ordinates,  from  the  line  CE, 
by  a rod  divided  into  feet,  tenths  and  hundredths  of  a foot. 
Put  a nail  in  at  each  point  found  in  the  curve,  and  bend  an 
uniform  lath  against  the  nails,  and  mark  the  curve. 

Arches  for  67.  Our  next  example  is  for  the  purpose  of  shewing  the 
large  principles  of  constructing  an  arch  for  a bridge,  when  the 

bridges.  Span  ;s  considerable.  In  the  article  Biudc.e,  prop.  S,  the 

equation  of  the  curve  of  equilibrium  is  found  to  be  y— 

Y i Y*  for  a disposition  of  the  load  which  has  place 
in 

Making  x successively  10,  20,  30, 


commonly  in  bridges. 
&c.  feet,  we  have 

i 

y 


=^(«+ie#)- 


n 200/  .Tran 

y = — (a  4-  bbr-.b). 

m 

:J"  =4Al(a+,50i). 


V = 


m 

— (a  + 2 mU). 

7)1 

1 9A0 

(a  + 4l6§5). 


VI 


y ‘ i= (a-}-600ft). 


y 


-(a-f  8l6§ft),  &c.  &c. 


The  curve  of  equilibrium  being  to  pass  at  the  middle  of  the 
depth  of  the  arch-stones,  CB,  PI.  CCCXLII.  fig.  26,  will  be 
the  height  = h,  and  AB  the  semi- span  = S;  also  let  the  depth 
of  the  arch  and  roadway  at  the  crown,  or  a,  be  7 feet;  andsup- 
pose  the  quantity  of  matter  be  so  regulated  by  hollow  span- 

drils  that  ft=  — Under  these  conditions  we  shall  have 

S2 


:S*(“+-H= 


If  the  semi-span  be 


feet,  and  the  height  24  feet,  then  m— 936,  and  ft  = ‘00193. 
Calculating  the  ordinates  from  these  data,  we  shall  have 
i 


in 


y — 

IV 


y 


•375 
1-52 
3-5 
= 6-4 
= 1 0-4 
= 15-7 


be  149,760  lbs.,  and  -—-  = 149,760;  which,  considering  ft 


yVII=22-4 
AD =24-0 

Construct  the  curve  according  to  these  ordinates,  and  divide 
it  for  the  arch-stones.  The  joints  should  be  perpendicular 
to  this  curve ; but  great  accuracy  is  not  necessary  in  this 
respect,  provided  the  inclination  from  that  perpendicular  be 
considerably  within  the  angle  of  repose.  (See  article  Bridge, 
prop.  Z.)  The  joints  may  be  drawn  thus,  with  any  radius: 
from  the  next  division  on  one  side  of  the  joint,  a describe  an 
arc,  and  from  the  next  division  on  the  other  side,  with  the 
same  radius  describe  another  arc  to  intersect  the  former  one, 
through  the  intersection  and  the  division  a draw  the  direc- 


= unity,  gives  eft- 


599,040 

f ' 


For  Craigleith  stone,  No.  15, 


Table  iii.,  the  key-stone  should  be  six  feet  deep.  To  find 
the  depth  of  the  arch-stones  at  any  other  part  of  the  arch, 
set  off  Be  equal  the  depth  at  the  key-stone,  and  draw  be 
parallel  to  a tangent  to  the  curve  of  equilibrium  at  the  point 
where  the  depth  is  to  be  determined,  then  be  is  the  depth 
at  that  point.  The  depth  at  a sufficient  number  of  points 
being  found  as  above,  and  set  off  equally  on  each  side  of  the 
curve  of  equilibrium,  the  form  of  the  intrados  will  be  deter- 
mined, which  may  be  terminated  by  a circular  arc  at  the 
springing  ; and  it  is  not  a little  remarkable  that  the  arch, 
thus  described  from  principle,  is  a pointed  arch. 

68.  When  an  arch  cuts  a plane  wall  in  an  oblique  direc-  Oblique 
tion,  there  is  a little  more  scope  for  the  art  of  the  sto»e-  arches, 
cutter.  But  previously  to  attempting  to  proceed  further, 
we  would  recommend  the  young  student  to  make  himself 
master  of  the  principles  of  projection,  development,  and 
solid  angles.  The  first  section  of  the  article  Joinery  is 
wholly  restricted  to  these  principles ; all  of  which  being 
equally  applicable  to  both  arts,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  re- 
peat them  in  this  place.  Let  an  elliptical  arch  be  supposed  to 
cut  a plane  wall  obliquely,  and  the  walltobe  inclined,  ABCD, 
fig.  27,  is  the  plan  of  the  arch  ; EF  a section  at  right  angles 
to  its  direction  ; IH  a section  at  right  angles  to  the  line  AB. 

Project  the  inclined  face  of  the  wall,  as  shewn  at  AO  PB,  by 
the  method  of  projecting  planes  (Joinery,  sect.  1 and  7) ; and 
in  doing  this  it  will  be  found  an  advantage  to  produce  the 
joints  till  they  cut  the  base  line  EF,  because  the  angles  will 
be  set  out  with  greater  accuracy  from  long  lines.  In  the 
case  where  the  wall  is  vertical,  the  section  and  projection 
of  the  face  are  not  required.  Next  let  the  soffit  be  devel- 
oped, on  the  supposition  that  the  arch  is  a polygon  of  as 
many  sides  as  there  are  arch-stones.  (See  Joinery,  sect.  1, 
art.  13.)  KLMN  shews  the  development  of  the  soffit  or 
moulds.  The  form  of  the  bed  of  each  stone  is  shewn  by 
the  planes  a,  ft,  c,  and  d,  and  is  thus  found,  for  the  joint,  4, 
draw  he  and  mf  parallel  to  EF,  and  produce  the  joint  84  on 
the  development  to  cut  he  in  g ; set  off  ge  equal  to  4 i,  and 
draw  ef  parallel  to  48  ; then,  a line  drawn  from  e through 
the  point  4,  will  give  the  bevel  at  one  end,  and  a line 
drawn  from  f through  8 gives  the  bevel  at  the  other  end ; 
its  width  is  equal  to  4 k on  the  section.  As  there  are  no 
curved  parts,  except  the  soffit  of  the  arch,  the  stones  may 
be  worked  by  means  of  bevels,  without  having  moulds  made 
tor  the  soffits  and  beds.2 

69-  When  a road  crosses  a canal  in  an  oblique  direction,  Oblique  or 
the  bridge  is  often  made  oblique.  When  the  angle  does  skew 
not  vary  more  than  ten  or  twelve  degrees  from  a right  angle,  bridges, 
the  arch-stones  may  be  formed  as  already  described ; but 
in  cases  of  greater  obliquity,  a different  principle  of  con- 
struction is  necessary.  These  cases  should,  however,  be 
avoided  wherever  it  is  possible  ; as,  however  solid  the  con- 
struction of  an  oblique  bridge  may  be  in  reality,  it  has 
neither  that  apparent  solidity  nor  fitness  which  ought  to 
characterise  an  useful  and  pleasing  object.  An  oblique  arch 
may  be  constructed  on  the  principle  of  its  being  a right  arch 


' Monge,  in  an  elaborate  article  on  the  application  of  Descriptive  Geometry  to  the  use  of  Architects,  has  drawn  a very  erroneous  con- 
clusion respecting  the  joints  of  vaults  and  arches  ; for  it  is  the  direction  of  the  pressure,  and  not  the  form  of  the  soffit,  which  determines  the 
best  direction  for  a joint ; but  the  views  developed  in  the  article  Bridge  were  not  known  at  the  time  Monge  wrote.  In  othei  respects,  the 
article  of  Monge  is  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  mason.  ( See  Geometric  Descriptive,  article  130,  4me  ed.  Paris,  1820. ) 

2 Our  method  is  analogous  to  that  called  Biais  par  Ahrege  by  the  French  writers.  (See  Frezier,  tome  ii.  p.  133.)  Other  methods  are 
given  by  Frezier,  Simonin,  Rondelet,  Nicholson,  &c.  in  the  works  referred  to  at  the  end  of  this  article- 


MASON!!  Y. 


121 


Masonry,  of  a larger  span,  as  is  shewn  in  fig.  28.  Let  ABCD  be  the 
v-— -v— J plan,  and  EFGH  the  corresponding  points  in  the  eleva- 
tion, in  this  elevation  the  dotted  lines  shew  the  parts  which 
would  not  be  seen.  The  joints  of  the  arch  are  supposed  to 
be  divided  upon  the  middle  section,  and  therefore  drawn  to 
the  mean  centre  K,  which  corresponds  to  the  point  I on  the 
plan.  Divide  AD  into  any  number  of  equal  parts  as  at  1, 
2,  3,  &c.  and  transferring  these  points  to  the  elevation  ; de- 
scribe the  arch  belonging  to  each  point,  and  also  draw  the 
parallel  lines  11,  22,  & c.  on  the  plan.  To  find  the  mould 
for  the  arris  of  any  joint,  as  a,  draw  ab  parallel  to  the  base 
line  EF,  and  from  a , as  a centre,  transfer  the  distances  of 
the  points  where  the  arches  cut  the  joint,  to  the  line  ab. 
Then  let  fall  perpendiculars  from  the  points  in  the  line  ab 
to  the  lines  1 1 , 22,  &c.  in  the  plan,  whence  we  find  a,  m, 
n,  o,  p,  in  the  curve  of  the  mould  for  the  arris  of  the  joint 
a.  The  mould  for  any  other  joint  may  be  found  in  the  same 
manner.  The  ends  of  the  arch-stones  will  be  square  to  the 
joints,  sm&pcde  will  be  the  mould  for  one  end,  and  acdf  the 
mould  for  the  other  end.  It  will  be  of  some  advantage  in 
working  the  arch-stones  to  observe,  that  the  arch-stone 
being  in  its  place,  the  soffit  should  be  everywhere  perfectly 
straight  in  a direction  parallel  to  the  horizon.1 
Arches  in  70.  If  it  be  required  to  construct  an  arch  in  the  wall  of 
circular  a circular  building,  as  in  fig.  29,  where  ABCD  is  the  plan 

walls.  of  the  wall,  the  elevation  EF  should  be  drawn,  and  the  joints 

in  the  same  manner,  as  if  the  arch  were  in  a plane  wall. 
The  curved  surface  of  the  soffit  should  be  correctly  develop- 
ed by  the  process  described  in  the  article  Joinery,  art.  13, 
and  the  moulds  made  of  some  flexible  material ; these  soffit 
moulds  are  shewn  at  a , b,  c,  & c.  The  mould  for  the  joint 
2 may  be  found  by  dividing  the  joint  into  any  number  m, 
n,  &c.  parts  ; and  let  a perpendicular  fall  from  each  point  of 
division  to  the  curved  lines  representing  the  faces  of  the 
wall  on  the  plan,  and  from  each  point  in  which  the  curved 
lines  are  intersected  by  these  perpendiculars,  draw  a line 
parallel  to  EF.  Also,  from  2,  as  a centre,  transfer  the  di- 
visions on  the  joint  to  the  horizontal  line  f 2,  and  from 
thence  let  perpendiculars  fall,  which  will  cut  the  lines  that 
are  parallel  to  EF  in  the  points  through  which  the  curves 
of  the  mould  must  be  drawn,  as  shewn  by  the  shaded  part 
P on  the  plan.  Any  other  joint  may  be  described  in  the 
same  manner.2  In  the  figure,  the  section  is  drawn,  because 
it  shews  somewhat  more  distinctly  the  size  of  the  arch- 
stones ; it  is  not  necessary  in  finding  the  moulds,  except 
the  face  of  the  wall  be  inclined,  a case  of  very  rare  occur- 
rence in  practice.  An  arch  in  a circular  wall  always  has 
the  appearance  of  a want  of  strength  on  the  convex  side  ; 
and  when  the  curvature  is  considerable,  it  becomes  abso- 
* lutely  insecure.  The  method  describing  the  raking  mould- 
ings, so  as  to  mitre  with  horizontal  ones,  has  been  explain- 
ed in  the  article  Joinery,  and  the  same  methods  apply  in 
masonry. 

Stairs.  71.  Respecting  the  general  principles  of  stairs,  we  may 

also  refer  the  reader  to  Joinery,  art.  39, 40,  where  the  pro- 
portions of  steps,  &c.  are  shewn ; in  masonry  the  kinds 
termed  geometrical  stairs  are  the  only  ones  which  offer  any 
considerable  difficulty  in  the  execution.  Each  step  of  a 
geometrical  stair  is  partly  supported  by  wedging  its  end  in- 
to the  wall  of  the  staircase,  and  it  is  further  strengthened 
by  resting  upon  the  step  below  it.  The  outward  end  of  a 
seriesof  these  steps  is  represented  by  fig.  7,  Plate  CCCXLV ; 
the  line  abc  shews  the  form  of  the  joint  between  two  ad- 
joining steps  ; in  the  straight  part  of  a flight  of  stairs,  ab  is 
made  about  an  inch,  and  the  part  be  is  made  perpendicular 


to  the  soffit  of  the  stair,  and  of  such  a depth  as  may  be  re-  Masonry, 
quired  for  the  kind  of  stone.  As  this  depth  is  determined' 
by  the  mean  depth  necessary  to  render  a stair  safe,  we  shall 
here  give  an  example  of  computing  the  mean  depth  of  a step 
for  Craigleith  stone,  by  equa.  16  (art.  41).  Put  ?e=the 
greatest  uniform  load  on  a square  foot,  including  the  weight 
of  the  stone  itself,  — 300  lbs.  the  horizontal  distance  between 
C and  D (fig.  6),  =10  feet,  and  the  length  of  the  step  BD 

* , . w X (CD)2  x (DB)2  Jo 
=6  feet,  then y(CUS  + DE,-)=<l-.  « 


J 


300  X 100  X 36 
26,000  x(  100  + 36/ 


:’55  feet,  the  mean  depth  GII,  fig. 7. 


That  part  of  a step  which  is  inserted  into  the  wall  of  the 
staircase  is  made  about  eight  or  nine  inches  long  for  ordi- 
nary staircases,  but  ought  to  be  longer  when  the  steps  are 
longer.  Steps,  and  landings,  and  balconies,  should  be  made 
to  bear  as  evenly  and  firmly  as  possible  upon  their  supports ; 
and  from  a little  consideration  of  the  nature  of  the  strains 
to  be  resisted  in  such  operations,  the  mason  may  perhaps 
derive  some  instruction,  since  a mistaken  view  of  the  sub- 
ject is  likely  to  be  attended  with  serious  consequences. 

Let  AB,  fig.  30,  Plate  CCCXLVII.,  be  a step  fixed  in  a 
wall,  CD  being  the  face  of  the  wall,  and  CA  the  part  in- 
serted in  the  wall.  It  will  be  obvious  that  the  weight  of 
the  projecting  part  DB,  of  the  step,  with  any  load  upon  it, 
will  tend  to  raise  the  fixed  part  at  A,  and  to  depress  it  at 
C.  But  it  will  require  a less  force  at  A to  sustain  the  step 
than  at  any  other  point  between  A and  D ; and  the  nearer 
to  D,  the  greater  the  strain  will  be,  consequently  a greater 
risk  of  failure.  Hence  the  effectual  resistance  on  the  upper 
side  should  be  at  the  extremity,  A,  of  the  step,  and  the  sup- 
port at  C should  be  immediately  at  the  face  of  the  wall. 

We  have  often  observed  in  stone  stairs  where  steps  are  al- 
ternately in  straight  flights  and  winding  ones,  the  soffit  of 
the  stair  to  be  irregular,  with  sudden  and  abrupt  changes 
of  form  where  the  winding  steps  began  and  terminated. 

These  may  always  be  avoided,  by  making  a development 
of  the  ends  of  the  steps,  and  forming  the  abrupt  changes 
into  easy  curves,  as  a joiner  does  the  hand-rail  of  a stair. 

(See  Joinery,  fig.  43.)3 

The  earliest  author  on  stone-cutting  appears  to  have  been  liters  on 
Philibert  De  L'Orme,  who,  in  the  introduction  to  the  fourth  stone.cut. 
book  of  his  wrork,  remarks,  that  he  had  “ never  heard  ofting. 
anything  that  had  been  written  on  stone-cutting,  either  by 
ancient  or  modern  architects.”  The  labours  of  De  L’Orme 
on  this  subject  form  the  third  and  fourth  books  of  his  Trea- 
tise on  Architecture , Paris,  1567,  in  folio.  We  shall  close 
this  article  w ith  the  following  list  of  some  other  authors 
on  stone-cutting,  in  the  order  they  were  published  : — Ma- 
thurin  Jousse,Le  Secret  de  l’ Architecture,  1642,  folio.  Fran- 
cois Derrand,  E Art  des  Traits  et  Coupe  des  Voutes,  Paris, 

1643,  folio.  Abraham  Bosse,  Practiquedu  Trait  a preuves 
de  M.  Desargues,  1643.  J.  B.  De  la  Rue,  Trade  de  la 
Coupe  des  Pierres,  folio,  1728  ; this  was  a republication 
of  Derrand’s  work,  w ith  additions.  Batty  Langley,  An- 
cient Masonry,  London,  1733,  folio.  Frezier,  Trade  de 
la  Coupe  des  Pierres,  3 tomes  4to,  1737-1739-  Ency- 
clopedic, article  Ma^onnerie.  Encyclopedic  Mithodique, 
Ma^onnerie,  1785.  Simonin,  Trade  Elementaire  de  la 
Coupe  des  Pierres,  4to,  1792.  P.  Nicholson,  Carpenters’ 
and  Joiners’  Assistant,  4to,  London,  1797.  J.  Rondelet, 

Trade  Theorique  et  Practique  de  V Art  de  bdtir,  tom.  ii. 

4 to,  Paris,  1804.  (g.  g.  g.  g.'I 


1 For  further  information  respecting  oblique  or  skew  bridges,  the  reader  may  consult  Gauthey,  Construction  des  Fonts , tom.  i.  p.  :i90 ; 
Chapman,  in  Rees'  Cyclopaedia,  art.  Oblique  Arch  ; and  the  article  Navigation,  Inland,  in  the  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia. 

* Other  methods  are  given  by  Frdzier,  Nicholson,  & c. 

3 The  French  methods  of  constructing  stairs  differ  considerably  from  those  of  our  own  country  ; but  it  would  extend  this  article  too 
much  to  explain  them  ; therefore,  the  reader  may  consult  the  works  of  Frdzier,  Rondelet,  and  Simonin,  where  he  will  find  these  methods 
detailed. 


JOINERY. 


Carpentry 

defined. 


Joinery 

defined. 


Joinery.  Is  one  of  the  useful  arts  which  contributes  most  mate- 
s~— ■ ‘V"””' rially  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  man.  As  the 
arts  of  joinery  and  carpentry  are  often  followed  by  the 
same  individual,  it  appears,  at  first  view,  natural  to  con- 
clude, that  the  same  principles  are  common  to  both  these 
arts.  But  a closer  examination  of  their  objects  leads  us  to 
a different  conclusion. 

The  art  of  Carpentry  is  directed  almost  wholly  to  the 
support  of  weight  or  pressure  ; and,  therefore,  its  principles 
must  be  found  in  the  mechanical  sciences.  In  a building, 
it  includes  all  the  rough  timber-work  necessary  for  sup- 
port, division,  or  connection  ; and  its  proper  object  is  to 
give  firmness  and  stability.  See  the  Article  Carpentry. 

The  art  of  Joinery  has  for  its  object  the  addition  in  a 
building  of  all  the  fixed  wood-work  necessary  for  conve- 
nience or  ornament.  It  is  the  Intestinum  opus  of  Vitru- 
vius, and  the  Menuiserie  des  batmens  of  the  French. 

The  joiner’s  works  are  many  of  them  of  a complicated 
nature,  and  require  to  be  executed  in  an  expensive  mate- 
rial ; therefore  joinery  requires  much  skill  in  that  part  of 
geometrical  science  which  treats  of  the  projection  and  de- 
scription of  lines,  surfaces,  and  solids,  as  well  as  an  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  structure  and  nature  of  wood. 

It  may  also  be  remarked,  that  the  rough  labour  of  the 
carpenter  renders  him  in  some  degree  unfit  to  produce  that 
kind  of  accurate  and  neat  workmanship  which  is  expected 
from  a modern  joiner. 

Progress  of  £n  early  times,  very  little  that  resembles  modern  joinery 
^neryin  was  known  ; every  part  was  rude,  and  joined  in  the  most 
ng  an  • artless  manner.  The  first  dawnings  of  the  art  appear  in 
the  thrones,  stalls,  pulpits,  and  screens  of  our  cathedrals 
and  churches ; but,  even  in  these,  it  is  of  the  most  simple 
kind,  and  is  indebted  to  the  carver  for  every  thing  that  is 
worthy  of  regard.  Whether  in  these  monuments,  the  car- 
ver and  the*  joiner  had  been  one  and  the  same  person  we 
cannot  now  determine,  though  we  imagine,  from  the  mode 
of  joining  in  some  of  them,  that  this  was  the  case. 

During  several  centuries  joinery  seems  to  have  been 
gradually  improving,  but  nothing  appears  to  have  been 
written  on  the  art  before  1677?  when  Mr  Joseph  Moxon,  a 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  published  a work,  entitled 
Mechanick  Exercises , or  the  Doctrine  of  Handgivorks.  In 
this  work  the  tools,  and  common  operations  in  joinery,  are 
described,  with  a collection  of  the  terms  then  in  use.  It 
must  have  been  a valuable  work  at  that  time,  but  to  a mas- 
ter in  the  art  it  would  convey  little  if  any  thing  that  was 
new.  Sash-windows  were  introduced  into  England  some 
time  before  the  date  of  Moxon’s  work,  but  he  has  not  no- 
ticed them.  According  to  the  observations  of  Dr  Thom- 
son this  important  improvement  has  not  yet  found  its  way 
into  Sweden.1 

About  the  beginning  of  the  last  century  several  works 
of  a most  interesting  kind  made  their  appearance.  Forms 
began  to  be  introduced  in  architecture,  which  could  not 
be  executed  at  a moderate  expense  without  the  aid  of  new 
principles,  and  these  principles  were  discovered  and  pub- 
lished by  practical  joiners.  As  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected, these  authors  had  but  confused  notions,  with  a 
scanty  portion  of  geometrical  knowledge  ; and,  according- 
ly, their  descriptions  are  often  obscure,  and  sometimes  er- 
roneous. 

The  hand-rails  of  stairs  offered  many  difficulties,  and  an 
imperfect  attempt  to  remove  them  was  first  made  by  Half- 


penny, in  his  Art  of  Sound  Building,  published  in  1725.  Joinery. 
Price,  the  author  of  the  British  Carpenter,  published  in  v'— "v"""*' 
1733,  was  more  successful,  and  his  remarks  show  a con- 
siderable degree  of  knowledge  of  the  true  nature  and  ob- 
ject of  his  researches. 

The  publication  of  Price’s  work  must  have  produced  a 
considerable  sensation  among  joiners,  for  it  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  many  other  works  of  different  degrees  of  merit. 

Of  these  the  works  of  Langley  and  Pain  were  the  most 
popular. 

The  establishment  of  the  principles  of  joinery,  on  the 
sound  basis  of  geometrical  science,  was  reserved  for  Ni- 
cholson. In  his  Carpenters'’  Guide,  and  Carpenter  and 
Joiners’  Assistant,  published  in  1792,  he  has  made  some 
most  valuable  corrections  and  additions  to  the  labours  of 
his  predecessors. 

Corresponding  improvements  were  also  made  in  the 
practice  of  joinery,  for  which  we  are  much  indebted  to  the 
late  Mr  James  Wyatt.  This  celebrated  architect  kept  to- 
gether some  of  the  best  workmen  in  London,  who  were 
looked  up  to  with  a degree  of  emulation  by  young  men, 
which  had  a beneficial  effect  on  the  progress  of  joinery. 

But  the  art  is  still  far  short  of  perfection.  We  conceive 
that  many  of  those  operations,  on  which  the  soundness  of 
work  chiefly  depends,  might  be  done  with  greater  exact- 
ness, and  less  labour,  by  means  of  tools  contrived  for  these 
purposes.  The  truth  and  certainty  which  have  been  in- 
troduced in  block-making,  is  sufficient  to  encourage  some 
one  to  extend  the  same  manner  of  mortising  in  joinery. 

See  Block-Machinery. 

The  principles  of  joinery  were  cultivated  in  France  by  Progress  of 
a very  different  class  of  writers.  In  the  extensive  work  of  Joinery  i>» 
Frezier,  entitled  Coupe  des  Pierres  et  des  Bois,  3 vols.  4to,  France. 
1739,  all  the  leading  principles  are  given  and  explained 
with  tedious  minuteness,  offering  a striking  contrast  to  the 
brevity  of  our  English  writers.  The  first  elementary  work 
on  that  part  of  geometrical  science,  which  contains  the 
principles  of  joinery,  appeared  in  France  in  1705,  from  the 
pen  of  the  celebrated  Gaspard  Monge,  who  gave  it  the 
name  of  Geometrie  Descriptive.  Much  of  what  has  been 
given  as  new  in  English  works,  had  been  long  known  on 
the  Continent ; but  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
much,  if  any,  assistance  derived  from  these  foreign  works 
by  any  writer  prior  to  Nicholson. 

The  latest  French  work  which  treats  of  joinery  is  Ron- 
delet’s  Id  Art  de  Bdtir.  It  is  also  the  best  foreign  work 
on  the  subject  that  we  have  seen  ; but  it  is  not  at  all 
adapted  to  the  state  of  joinery  in  England.  In  practice, 
the  French  joiners  are  very  much  inferior  to  our  own 
Their  work  is  rough,  slovenly,  and  often  clumsy,  and  at 
the  best  is  confined  to  external  effect.  The  neatness, 
soundness,  and  accuracy,  which  is  common  to  every  part 
of  the  works  of  an  English  joiner,  is  scarcely  to  be  found 
in  any  part  of  the  works  of  a French  one.  The  little 
correspondence,  in  point  of  excellence,  between  their 
theory  and  practice,  leads  us  to  think  that  their  theoreti- 
cal knowledge  is  confined  to  architects,  engineers,  &c.  in- 
stead of  being  diffused  among  workmen,  as  it  is  in  this 
country. 

In  cabinet-work  the  French  workmen  are  certainly  su- 
perior, at  least  as  far  as  regards  external  appearance ; but 
when  use,  as  well  as  ornament,  is  to  be  considered,  our 
own  countrymen  must  as  certainly  carry  away  the  palm. 


‘ Travels  in  Sweden,  p.  0. 


124 


JOINERY. 


Joinery.  The  appearance  of  French  furniture  is  much  indebted  to  a 
'y-'-''  superior  method  of  polishing,  which  is  now  generally  known 
in  this  country.1  For  many  purposes,  however,  copal  var- 
nish (such  as  coachmakers  use)  is  preferable ; it  is  more 
durable,  and  bears  an  excellent  polish. 

Geometri-  Geometry  is  useful  in  all,  and  absolutely  necessary  in 
cal  know-  some,  parts  of  a joiner’s  business  ; but  it  is  absurd  to  en- 
ledge  ne-  COunter  difficulties  in  execution,  and  to  sacrifice  good 
cessary.  taste,  convenience,  economy,  and  comfort,  merely  for  the 

purpose  of  displaying  a little  skill  in  that  science.  It  is, 
however,  a common  fault  among  such  architects  as  are 
better  acquainted  with  geometrical  rules  than  with  the 
production  of  visible  beauties,  to  form  designs  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  create  difficulties  in  the  execution. 

But,  when  geometrical  science  is  properly  directed,  it 
gives  the  mind  so  clear  a conception  of  the  thing  to  be 
executed,  that  the  most  intricate  piece  of  work  may  be 
conducted  with  all  the  accuracy  it  requires. 

Practice  of  The  practice  of  joinery  is  best  learned  by  observing  the 
Joinery,  methods  of  good  workmen,  and  endeavouring  to  imitate 
then?.  But  the  sooner  a workman  begins  to  think  for  him- 
self toe  better  ; he  ought  always  to  endeavour  to  improve 
on  the  processes  of  others  ; either  so  as  to  produce  the  same 
effect  with  less  labour,  or  to  produce  better  work.2 

We  intend,  in  this  article,  to  give  a plain  and  simple  ex- 
position of  the  most  valuable  principles  of  the  art  of  join- 
ery, which  will,  we  hope,  place  many  parts  of  the  practice 
under  a new  point  of  view,  and  ultimately  tend  to  improve 
them. 

Cabinet-  Cabinet-making,  or  that  part  of  the  art  of  working  in 
Making,  wood  which  is  applied  to  furniture,  has  little  affinity  with 
joinery,  though  the  same  materials  and  tools  be  employed 
in  both.  Correctness  and  strict  uniformity  are  not  so  es- 
sential in  moveables  as  in  the  fixed  parts  of  buildings  ; 
they  are  also  more  under  the  dominion  of  fashion,  and 
therefore  are  not  so  confined  by  rules  as  the  parts  of  build- 
ings. 

Cabinet-making  offers  considerable  scope  for  taste  in 
beautiful  forms,  and  also  in  the  choice  and  arrangement  of 
coloured  woods.  It  requires  considerable  knowledge  in 
perspective,  and  also  that  the  artist  should  be  able  to  sketch 
with  freedom  and  precision. 

If  the  cabinet-maker  intend  to  follow  the  higher  depart- 
ments of  his  art,  it  will  be  necessary  to  study  the  different 
kinds  of  architecture,  in  order  to  make  himself  acquainted 
with  their  peculiarities,  so  as  to  impress  his  works  with  the 
same  character  as  the  rooms  they  are  to  furnish. 

In  as  far  as  regards  materials,  and  the  principles  of  join- 
ing work,  the  cabinet-maker  will  find  some  useful  informa- 
tion in  the  second  and  third  sections  of  this  article.  In 
ornamental  composition  he  may  derive  much  benefit  from 
Tatham’s  Etchings  of  Ancient  Ornamental  Architecture , 
London,  1799  ; Perrier  and  Fontaine’s  Recueil  des  Decora- 
tions Interieures  comprenant  tout  ce  qui  a rapport  a 
VAmeublement , Paris,  1812;  and,  for  general  information, 
the  Cabinet  Dictionary , and  the  Cabinet-Maker  and  Up- 
holsterer’s Drawing-Book  of  Sheraton,  may  be  consulted. 


Sect.  I. — On  maring  Working  Drawings. 

1.  In  this  section  we  propose  to  lay  before  the  reader 
the  most  important  part  of  .the  principles  of  describing,  on 
a plane  surface,  the  lines  necessary  for  determining  bevels, 
forming  moulds,  or  any  other  purpose  required  in  the  prac- 
tice of  joinery.  The  limits  within  which  such  an  article  as 


joinery  must  be  confined,  in  a work  like  this,  will  not  permit  Joinery, 
us  to  enter  much  into  detail  on  the  various  points  to  be  il-  ' 

lustrated  in  this  section  ; but  we  hope,  by  judicious  selec- 
tion, to  place  under  one  point  of  view  the  principles  that 
are  most  useful  to  the  joiner. 

Projection  of  Bodies. 

2.  A clear  idea  of  the  nature  of  projection  is  so  essential  Nature  of 
in  making  working  drawings,  that,  in  our  endeavours  to  il-  Projection 
lustrate  it,  we  cannot  proceed  upon  principles  too  simple,  illustrated. 
In  the  first  stage  of  such  an  inquiry,  experiment  furnishes 

at  once  the  most  clear  and  satisfactory  evidence,  parti- 
cularly to  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  mathematical 
subjects. 

If  some  small  pieces  of  wood,  or  pieces  of  wire,  were 
joined  together,  so  as  to  represent  the  form  of  a solid  body, 
a cube  for  example,  and  if  this  figure  were  held  between 
the  sun  and  the  surface  of  a plane  board,  then  the  shadow 
of  the  figure  upon  the  board  would  be  its  projection  upon 
that  plane.  From  this  simple  experiment,  it  will  appear, 
that  the  projection  of  any  line  placed  in  the  direction  of 
the  sun’s  rays  will  be  a point : the  projection  of  any  line 
parallel  to  the  plane  will  be  of  the  same  length  as  the  line 
itself,  and  the  projection  of  any  line  inclined  to  the  plane 
will  be  always  shorter  than  that  line. 

3.  We  have  supposed  the  board  to  be  placed  at  any 
angle  with  the  direction  of  the  rays  of  the  sun ; but,  for  our 
present  purpose,  it  is  sufficient  to  consider  them  to  fall  per- 
pendicularly upon  it ; hence  it  is  obvious,  that  to  project  a 
straight  line  upon  a plane,  a perpendicular  to  the  plane 
should  be  let  fall  from  each  end  of  the  line,  and  the  line 
joining  the  points  where  the  perpendiculars  meet  the  plane 
will  be  the  projection  required. 

When  a projection  is  made  upon  a horizontal  plane,  it  is 
usually  called  a plan  of  the  body.  When  the  projection  is 
upon  a vertical  plane,  it  may  be  an  elevation  or  a section  of 
the  body ; it  is  a section  when  a portion  is  supposed  to  be 
cut  off ; and  the  plane  of  projection  is  usually  parallel  to  the 
plane  of  the  section. 

4.  Bodies  may  be  divided  into  three  classes,  according 
to  the  kinds  of  surfaces  by  which  they  are  bounded.  The 
first  class,  comprehending  those  which  are  bounded  by  plane 
surfaces,  such  are  cubes,  prisms,  pyramids,  and  the  like. 

The  second  class  contains  those  which  are  bounded  in  part 
by  plane  surfaces,  and  the  rest  by  curved  surfaces,  as  cy- 
linders, cones,  &c.  The  third,  including  those  which  are 
bounded  by  curved  surfaces  onlv,  as  spheres,  spheroids, 

&e. 

The  projections  of  the  first  class  of  bodies  will  consist  of 
straight  lines ; those  of  the  second  class,  of  curved  as  well 
as  straight  lines ; and  those  of  the  third  class,  of  curved 
lines  only. 

4.  Let  ABCD,  and  CDEF,  Fig.  1,  be  two  plane  sur-  Projection 
faces,  connected  by  a joint  at  CD,  so  that  while  the  plane  of  lines. 

CDEF  remains  horizontal,  the 
plane  ABCD  may  be  placed  per- 
pendicular to  it,  and  thus  repre- 
sent a vertical  plane.  Then,  if  a 
line  be  so  placed  in  space  that  ab 
is  its  projection  on  the  vertical 
plane,  and  a'b'  its  projection  on 
the  horizontal  plane,  its  projection 
on  any  other  vertical  plane,  HGEC, 
may  be  determined.  This  is  easily 
effected,  for  we  have  seen,  that  if  a perpendicular  be  drawn 


1 The  method  of  making  and  using  the  French  polish  is  minutely  described  in  Dr  Thomson’s  Annals  of  Philosophy , vol.  xi.  p.  1 19 

and  371.  , 

2 Descriptions  of  the  tools,  with  instructions  for  using  them,  may  be  found  in  Moxon’s  work  before  quoted,  and  in  Nicholsons 
Mechanical  Exercises,  Taylor,  London,  1812. 


JOINERY. 


125 


J oinery. 


To  deter- 
mine the 
length  of  a 
projected 
line. 


Projection 
of  planes. 


Projection 
of  curved 
lines. 


Fig-  2. 


to  the  plane  from  each  end  of  the  given  line,  they  will  give 
the  positions  of  the  ends  of  the  line  in  the  projection  (Art.  3). 
Now,  the  same  thing  will  be  done,  by  drawing  a' a"  and 
Vb"  perpendicular  to  EC,  and  setting  off  the  points  a"  and 
V at  the  same  height  above  EC  respectively,  as  a and  b 
are  above  CD,  then  the  line  a”b"  is  the  projection  re- 
quired. 

The  heights  may  be  transferred  from  one  vertical  plane 
to  another  when  they  are  both  supposed  to  be  laid  flat,  by 
drawing  the  line  IC,  so  as  to  bisect  the  angle  ECD,  and  if 
cb  be  parallel  to  CD,  meeting  IC  in  c,  then  a line  drawn 
parallel  to  EC,  from  the  point  c,  will  give  the  height  of  the 
point  b",  and  so  may  be  found  the  height  of  any  other 
point. 

6.  In  the  particular  case  we  have  drawn,  none  of  the 
projections  represents  the  real  length  of  the  given  line.  To 
obtain  this  length,  draw  a! e parallel  to  CD,  and  with  the 
radius  ab'  describe  the  arc  V e cutting  a' e in  e;  draw  de 
perpendicular  to  CD,  cutting  the  line  cb\nd\  join  ad,  and 
it  is  the  length  of  the  given  line. 

The  real  lengths  of  lines  frequently  are  not  given,  there- 
fore another  general  method  of  finding  them  will  be  found 
useful,  and  which  may  be  stated  as  follows : the  length  of 
an  inclined  line  projected  upon  a plane  is  equal  to  the  hy- 
pothenuse  of  a right-angled  triangle,  of  which  one  side  is 
the  projection  upon  the  plane,  and  the  other  side  is  the  dif- 
ference between  the  perpendicular  distances  of  the  extremes 
of  the  line  from  the  plane. 

7.  In  fig.  2,  a'b' cd  represents  the  horizontal  projection, 
or  plan,  of  a rectangular  surface,  and  the  elevation  ab 

shows  its  inclination  ; and  its  pro- 
jection against  another  vertical 
plane,  making  any  angle  ECD 
with  the  former,  or  plane  of  eleva- 
tion, is  shown  by  a"b" d d'.  GC 
being  perpendicular  to  EC,  and  A C 
perpendicular  to  CD,  the  heights 
may  be  transferred  by  means  of 
arcs  of  circles  described  from  C as 
a centre.  This  is  a better  method 
than  that  by  bisecting  the  angle  given  in  fig.  1 ; but  neither 
of  them  so  good,  in  practice,  as  setting  of  the  heights  with 
the  compasses,  or  with  a lath.  In  our  figures  it  is  desira- 
ble to  shew  the  connection  of  corresponding  parts  as  much 
as  possible;  therefore,  the  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that 
many  of  the  operations  we  describe  may  be  done  with  fewer 
lines  when  the  operator  is  fully  master  of  his  subject. 

8.  It  may  be  further  noticed  in  this  place,  that  when  a 
point  is  to  be  determined  in  one  line  by  the  intersection  of 
another,  the  lines  should  cross  each  other  as  nearly  at  right 
angles  as  possible ; for,  when  the  intersecting  lines  cross 
very  obliquely,  a point  cannot  be  determined  with  any  to- 
lerable degree  of  accuracy. 

9-  A curved  line  can  seldom  be  projected  by  any  other 
means  than  by  finding  a number  of  points  through  which 
the  projected  line  must  be  drawn,  or  finding  a series  of 
tangents  to  the  section.  In  giving  an  example  of  the  pro- 
jection of  a body  bounded  by  a curved  surface,  we  shall 
select  a case  of  frequent  occurrence  in  practice,  referring 
to  the  Geometrie  Descriptive  of  Monge,  for  more  general 
methods. 

Let  ABC  be  part  of  the  plan  of  the  base  of  a solid,  fig.  3, 
and  FED  its  end  elevation ; the  upper  side  of  the  solid 
being  bounded  by  the  curved  surface  FD.  This  solid  is 
supposed  to  be  cut  at  AB  by  a plane  perpendicular  to  the 
base,  and  our  intention  is  to  shew  the  form  of  the  section. 

Draw  EH  parallel  to  BA,  and  GIHE  will  represent  the 
plane  upon  which  the  section  is  to  be  projected.  Set  off 


any  convenient  number  of  points,  1,  2,  3,  4,  &c.  in  the  given  Joinery. 

curve  FD,from  each  of  these  points  v 
I *£•  3-  draw  a line  perpendicular  to  ED, 

to  meet  BA ; and  from  the  points 
in  BA,  thus  determined,  erect  per- 
pendiculars, which  will  cut  HE  at 
right  angles.  Make  GH  equal  to 
FE,  and  set  off  the  points  1,  2,  3, 

&c.  in  GHE  at  the  same  distances 
respectively  from  HE  as  the  cor- 
responding points  1,  2,  3,  &c.  in 
EFD  are  from  the  line  ED.  A 
curve  being  drawn  through  the 
points  E,  1,2,  3,  4,  5,  G will  com- 
plete the  section.  In  large  works, 
the  joiner  will  often  find  it  useful  to  put  nails  in  the  points, 
and  to  bend  a regular  lath  against  the  nails ; with  the  as- 
sistance of  the  lath,  the  curve  may  be  drawn  with  more 
regularity.1 

If  the  curve  FD  were  very  irregular,  or  a mixed  line  of 
straight  parts  and  curved  ones,  the  same  method  would  de- 
termine the  section ; all  the  caution  required  is,  that  a suf- 
ficient number  of  points  should  be  fixed  upon  in  the  given 
curve  ; and  upon  the  proper  selection  of  these  points  much 
of  the  accuracy  of  the  section  will  depend. 

The  angle  ribs  of  groined  ceilings,  the  angle  ribs  for 
coved  ceilings,  or  brackets  for  large  cornices,  and  the  angle 
cantilevers  for  balconies  or  other  works  of  a similar  kind, 
are  found  by  this  method.  If  FD  be  the  cross  rib  of  a 
groin,  then  GE  will  be  the  form  of  the  corresponding  angle 
rib.  Also,  if  the  angle  of  a room  be  represented  by  LAC, 
and  FD  be  the  cove  for  the  ceiling,  then  GE  will  be  the 
proper  angle  rib  for  such  a cove. 

In  some  cases,  the  section  may  be  determined  by  means 
of  the  properties  of  the  given  curve,  when  the  nature  of 
that  curve  is  known.  Thus  the  oblique  section  of  a cylin- 
der is  an  ellipse,  and  the  sections  of  a cone  are  certain  fi- 
gures depending  on  the  direction  of  the  plane  of  section 
(see  the  article  Conic  Sections)  ; but  if  an  architect  were 
confined  to  the  use  of  geometrical  curves,  there  would  be 
small  scope,  indeed,  for  a display  of  taste  in  his  art ; there- 
fore the  joiner  must  generally  have  recourse  to  the  simple 
method  we  have  described. 

1 0.  The  section  of  a body  may  often  be  drawn  by  a more 
simple  and  direct  process ; and  yet  where  the  principle  is 
still  the  same.  Thus  the  section  of  the  half  cylinder 
ACB,  in  fig.  4,  being  compared  with  the  process  in  fig.  3, 

will  be  found  to  be  the 
same  in  every  respect,  ex- 
cepting in  the  position  of 
the  parts  of  the  figure.  In 
fig.  4,  ACB  is  the  end  or 
plan  of  the  cylinder,  and 
DE  the  inclination  of  the 
plane  by  which  it  is  cut.  Let 
the  ordinates  a 1,  b 2,  &c. 
in  the  plan,  be  drawn  per- 
pendicular to  AB,  and  con- 
tinued till  they  cut  the  in- 
clined line  DE.  Also  draw 
the  ordinates  a!  V,  b'  2',  &c. 
perpendicular  to  the  line 
DE,  and  make  the  distan- 
ces a'V,  V 2',  &c.  respectively  equal  to  the  corresponding 
distances  a 1 , b 2,  &c.  upon  the  plan.  Through  the  points 
E,  1',  2',  See.  draw  the  curve  DFE. 

As  the  curve  DFE  is  an  ellipse,  when  ABC  is  a circle, 
in  that  case  it  will  be  better  to  draw  an  ellipse  with  a train- 


Fig.  4. 


1 A simple  and  convenient  instrument  for  this  purpose  is  described  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  for  1817,  vol.  xxxv. 

p.  10b. 


126 


J O I N E R Y. 


Joinery,  mel,  or  any  other  machine  that  produces  the  curve  by  a 
continued  motion.  (See  the  article  Elijptograph.)  DE 
is  the  transverse,  and  F d the  semi-conjugate  axis  of  the 
ellipse. 

The  most  important  application  of  the  case,  in  fig.  4,  is 
to  the  hand-railing  of  a staircase,  with  a curvilineal  well- 
hole,  or  opening  down  the  middle.  For,  if  Ae,  or  aB, 
show  the  breadth  of  the  rail,  ArCaB  would  be  its  plan ; 
and  1)  e'  F a'  E the  form  of  a mould,  commonly  called  a 
face  mould,  for  cutting  out  the  rail  by,  when  DE  is  the  in- 
clination of  the  plank.  We  cannot,  however,  proceed  di- 
rectly to  the  subject  of  stair-rails,  without  considering  the 
development  of  the  surfaces  of  bodies. 


To  deve- 
lope  a py- 
ramid. 


To  deve- 
lopea  cone, 


Development  of  Surfaces. 

11.  To  develope  the  surface  of  a solid,  is  to  draw,  on 
some  plane  surface,  a form  that  would  cover  it.  If  this 
form  were  drawn  upon  paper,  and  the  paper  were  cut  to  it, 
the  paper,  so  cut,  ought  to  cover  exactly  the  surface  of  the 
solid.  Now,  in  joinery,  it  is  often  required  that  a mould 
should  apply  to  a curved  surface ; and,  therefore,  the  deve- 
lopment of  that  surface  upon  a flexible  material  gives  the 
form  of  the  mould. 

The  covering  of  a square  pyramid  may  be  found  by  erect- 
Fi°.  5 ing  a perpendicular  from  the  middle  of  one 
of  the  sides  of  its  base,  as  from  a in  the  side 
AB,  fig.  5.  Upon  this  perpendicular  set  off 
a C equal  to  the  slant  height  of  the  pyra- 
mid ; then,  with  the  radius  AC  and  cen- 
tre C describe  the  arc  A3,  and  set  off 
the  distance  AB  three  times  upon  the 
arc.  Join  the  points  C3,  C2,  Cl,  CA, 
and  CB,  and  draw  the  lines  32,  21,  1 A, 
which  determine  the  covering  requir- 
ed. 

It  is  obvious,  that  we  could  develope  a pyramid  of  which 
the  base  might  have  any  number  of  sides,  by  the  same  me- 
thod ; and  that  a near  approximation  to  the  development 
of  a right  cone  might  be  effected  by  the  same  means, 
which,  in  fact,  is  the  means  usually  employed.  But  the  fol- 
lowing method  of  spreading  out  the  surface  of  a cone  will 
be  found  more  correct. 

12.  Let  ABC,  fig.  6,  be  the  elevation  of  a cone,  and 
ADB  half  the  plan  of  its  base.  With  the 
radius  AC  describe  the  arc  AE,  which  will 
be  the  line  bounding  the  development; 
and,  to  find  the  length  of  the  arc,  or  rather 
the  angle  containing  it,  multiply  360  by 
the  radius  A a of  the  base,  and  divide  the 
product  by  the  slant  height  AC  of  the  cone ; 
the  quotient  will  be  the  number  of  degrees 
in  the  arc  AE,  when  the  surface  ACE  ex- 
actly covers  the  whole  cone.  Thus,  let  A a 


Fig. 


be  12  feet,  and  AC  40  feet ; then 


360  X 12 
_ 40 


= 108  degrees, 


ana  making  ACE  an  angle  of  108  degrees,  we  have  the 
sector  ACE  that  would  cover  the  cone. 

This  applies  to  the  soffits  of  windows,  where  they  are 
enlarged  towards  the  inside,  to  admit  light  more  freely  than 
square  recesses  would  do.  If  ab  be  the  width  of  the  soffit, 
draw  cb  parallel  to  AB,  and  from  the  centre  C describe 
the  arc  cd.  Then  half  the  developement  AE  cd  will  be 
the  mould  for  the  soffit ; or  the  form  of  a veneer  that  would 
cover  it. 

To  deve-  13.  The  development  of  a cylinder  is  also  of  use  in 
Under  C^"  f°rm'ng  tlie  mould  for  soffits,  but  is  still  more  useful  in  the 
construction  of  stairs ; and,  as  we  are  obliged  to  consider 


it  as  a prism  with  numerous  sides,  it  is  obvious  that  anv  Joinery, 
other  body  of  a like  kind  may  be  developed  by  the  same v«— - v— ~ 
means. 

Let  ABC,  fig.  7,  be  the  plan  of  half  a cylinder,  and  A'E 
its  height.  Divide  the  curve  ACB  into  any  convenient 
Fig.  7. 


number  of  equal  parts,  and  let  these  parts  be  set  off  from 
C to  A,  and  from  C to  B'.  When  the  curve  is  a semicir- 
cle, divide  the  diameter  AB  into  the  proposed  number  of 
parts,  and  make  «D  equal  to  three-fourths  of  the  radius. 

From  D,  through  the  points  A and  B,  draw  the  lines  DA', 

DB',  then  A'B'  is  nearly  equal  to  the  curve  ACB  stretched 
out and,  by  drawing  a line  from  D through  each  of  the 
divisions  in  AB,  the  line  A'B'  will  be  divided  into  the,  same 
number  of  equal  parts. 

In  either  case,  erect  a perpendicular  from  each  point  of 
division,  and  EA'B'F  will  be  the  development  of  the  sur- 
face. 

If  we  suppose  A'B'  to  be  divided  into  the  number  of 
steps  that  would  be  necessary  to  ascend  from  B to  A,  in  a 
circular  staircase,  the  development  of  the  ends  of  these 
steps  may  be  drawn  as  in  the  upper  part  of  the  figure.  The 
projection  G of  the  cylinder,  with  the  lines  of  the  develop- 
ment drawn  upon  it,  and  the  ends  of  the  steps,  shews  the 
waving  line  formed  by  the  nosings  of  the  steps,  and  conse- 
quently by  the  hand-rail  of  a circular  staircase. 

When  a part  of  a cylinder  is  cut  off  by  a plane,  the  line 
of  section  will  be  a curved  line  upon  the  development,  as 
is  shewn  in  the  lower  part  of  the  development,  fig.  7-  The 
faint  lines  shew  the  manner  of  finding  the  edge  of  the  co- 
vering, and  is  the  same  as  finding  a mould  for  a soffit  form- 
ed by  an  arch  cutting  obliquely  into  a straight  wall. 

14.  In  an  oblique  cone,  the  lines  drawn  on  its  surface,  To  deve- 
from  its  base  to  the  vertex,  would  be  of  different  lengths ; lope  an  ob- 
and  as  those  lengths  are  not  shewn  by  the  plan  or  eleva-  li(lue  cone* 
tion,  they  may  be  had  by  means  of  the  principle  stated  in 
art.  6. 

Let  ABC,  fig.  8,  be  the  given  cone,  and  AEB  a plan  of 
Fig.  3. 


1 This  has  been  shown  by  Dr  C.  Hutton,  in  his  Mathematical  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  160. 


JOINERY. 


127 


Joinery,  half  its  base  ; to  find  the  development,  produce  AB,  and 
-v— '"from  the  vertex  C let  fall  the  perpendicular  CD.  Divide 
the  circumference  of  the  base  into  any  number  of  equal 
parts,  and  from  each  point  of  division  describe  an  arc  from 
D,  as  a centre,  to  cut  the  line  AB  at  1,  2,  3,  &c.  From 
C,  as  a centre,  describe  the  arcs  A A',  11,  22,  &c.  and  with 
a radius  equal  to  one  of  the  divisions  of  the  circumference 
of  the  base,  and  the  centre  B cross  the  arc  55,  which  de- 
termines the  point  5 in  the  development,  with  the  same 
radius,  and  the  point  5,  as  a centre  cross  the  arc  44,  and  so 
on  for  the  remainder  of  the  arcs.  Join  A'C,  and  draw  a 
curve  line  through  the  points  A',  1 , 2,  &c.  which  gives  the 
covering  for  half  an  oblique  cone. 

If  the  cone  be  cut  by  a plane,  a b,  parallel  to  the  base, 
the  surface  B b a'  A!  will  be  the  covering  of  a soffit  for  a 
conical  arch  cutting  obliquely  into  a straight  wall. 

To  find  the  1 5.  As  it  often  happens  that  there  is  not  a sufficient 
covering  of  space  between  the  head  of  a door,  or  a window,  and  the 
cornice  of  the  ceiling,  to  admit  of  the  same  bevel  being 
preserved  at  the  crown  or  top,  as  at  the  sides  of  the  win- 
dow ; in  such  cases  the  soffit  is  made  level  at  the  crown,  or 
with  such  an  inclination  only  as  will  prevent  the  architrave 
cutting  into  the  cornice  of  the  room. 

Let  ABCD,  fig.  9,  be  the  plan  of  the  space  to  be  cover- 
ed with  a soffit,  ED  the  arch  of  half  the  opening,  which  is 

Fig.  9. 


a soffit. 


in  its  proper  position  when  set  perpendicularly  over  the  line 
CD ; and  let  F c be  the  height  of  the  arch  over  AB.  Pro- 
duce AC.  and  BD  to  meet,  at  G ; set  off  cm  equal  to  c F, 
and  3 n equal  to  3 E,  then  draw  a line  through  the  points 
m n,  which  will  give  the  inclination  of  the  soffit  at  the  high- 
est part  of  it.  Divide  the  arch  ED  into  any  number  of 
equal  parts  (in  our  example  we  have  only  divided  it  into 
three  parts),  and  from  each  point  of  division  let  fall  a per- 
pendicular to  CD,  meeting  the  line  CD  in  the  points  1,  2. 
Through  these  points  draw  the  lines  G a,  G b,  cutting  the 
line  AB  in  the  points  a b,  and  from  each  point  erect  a per- 
pendicular to  AB.  Set  off,  on  3 n,  the  heights  of  the  points 
in  the  curve  ED,  and  divide  the  line  me  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  n 3,  which  will  give  the  corresponding  heights 
for  the  arch  FD,  and  through  the  points  thus  found  the 
arch  FD  should  be  drawn. 

Make  G o perpendicular  to  GE,  cutting  a line  passing 
through  the  points  m n in  o,  and  draw  lines  through  the 
corresponding  points  of  division  in  the  lines  me,  7i  3,  so  that 
G o may  be  divided  in  the  same  proportion  as  n 3.  Draw 
Gp  perpendicular  to  GD,  and  equal  to  Go,  and  set  off 
upon  it  the  same  distances  as  are  upon  Go.  Then,  with 
a radius  Gl,  and  the  first  division  on  Gp,  as  a centre,  de- 
scribe an  arc  at  s,  and  with  a radius  equal  to  one  of  the 
divisions  of  the  arc  ED  and  D as  a centre,  cross  the  arc  s, 


which  gives  one  point.  Also,  with  a radius  G 2,  and  the  Joinery, 
second  division  on  G p as  a centre,  make  an  arc  at  t,  which,  ~v— -/ 

being  crossed  by  an  arc  described  with  a radius,  equal  to 
one  of  the  divisions  of  the  arc  ED,  and  s as  a centre,  de- 
termines another  point  in  the  edge  of  the  covering.  Pro- 
ceed in  the  same  manner  till  half  the  development  of  one 
edge  be  completed ; the  other  edge  will  be  obtained  by 
drawing  lines  through  the  points  s,  t , u,  from  the  corres- 
ponding points  in  G p,  and  making  sw  equal  to  a 1 ; tx 
equal  to  b 2,  &c. 

As  both  sides  are  the  same,  the  soffit  mould  for  one  side 
requires  only  to  be  reversed  for  the  other  side.  If  the  sof- 
fit be  level  at  the  crown,  the  process  may  be  rendered 
shorter  ; but,  where  it  is  possible  to  get  space  for  a slight 
inclination,  the  appearance  of  the  soffit  is  always  materially 
improved. 

If  the  plan  of  the  wall  be  circular,  find  the  develop- 
ment of  the  arc  ED  as  before,  and  transfer  the  distances 
from  CD  of  the  points  in  the  curved  wall,  to  the  corres- 
ponding lines  in  the  development,  in  the  same  manner  as 
was  done  to  find  the  edge  B w x y. 

16.  The  development  of  a sphere,  or  globe,  can  be  ef-To  deve- 
fected  only  by  an  approximate  process,  as  it  is  impossible  l°Pe  a 
to  apply  a plane  surface  so  as  to  touch  more  than  one  point  sPhere* 
at  a time ; but  various  methods  may  be  employed  which 

are  useful  in  forming  spherical  surfaces. 

A sphere  may  be  divided  into  numerous  zones,  the  sur- 
face of  each  zone  may  be  considered  as  that  of  the  frustum 
of  a cone,  and  developed  in  the  same  manner  as  has  been 
described  for  a portion  of  a cone  in  art.  1 2.  The  upper 
part  of  fig.  10  shews  half  a sphere  developed  in  this  man- 
ner : and  when  it  is  divided  into  very  T;fr.  [q. 

narrow  zones,  the  covering  found  by 
this  process  has  some  advantages,  in 
practice,  that  are  peculiar  to  it. 

17.  The  surface  of  a sphere  may 
also  be  developed  by  inscribing  it  in 
a cylinder,  LMNO,  fig.  10,  and  con- 
sidering a small  portion,  or  gore,  ABD, 
to  coincide  with  the  surface  of  the 
cylinder.  Then,  if  the  portion  ABD, 
considered  as  part  of  a cylinder,  be 
developed  by  the  process  described 
in  art.  13,  one  gore,  ABrf  will  be 
obtained  ; and  by  dividing  the  circumference  of  the  sphere 
into  any  number  of  equal  parts,  and  making  AB  equal  to 
one  of  these  parts,  the  same  mould  will  serve  for  the  whole 
of  the  sphere. 

Another  method  of  developing  a sphere  consists  in  sup- 
posing it  to  be  a polyhedral,  or  many-sided  figure  ; but  this 
method  has  no  advantage  over  the  preceding  ones,  while 
it  has  the  inaccuracies  of  both  of  them. 

In  lining  and  boarding  domes,  the  position  of  the  ribs  to 
which  the  boards  are  to  be  fixed  will  determine  the  method 
of  developement  that  ought  to  be  adopted ; but  the  form 
of  the  veneers  for  a spherical  surface  may  be  determined 
by  either  method. 

To  determine  the  Angle  formed  by  two  Inclined  Planes. 

1 8.  The  angle  made  by  two  planes  which  cut  one  ano-  To  find  the 
ther,  is  the  angle  contained  by  two  straight  lines  drawn  angle  of 
from  any,  the  same,  point  in  the  line  of  their  common  sec- planes  in- 
tion,  at  right  angles  to  that  line  ; the  one  in  the  one  plane,  t'inc<* to 
and  the  other  in  the  other.1  This  angle  is  the  same  as^®rano' 
that  which  the  joiner  takes  with  his  bevel,  the  bevel  being 

always  applied  so  that  its  legs  are  square  from  the  arris,  or 
common  section  of  the  planes. 


1 This  is  the  definition  given  by  Professor  Playfair,  in  his  Elements  of  Geometry,  and  it  is  better  suited  to  our  purpose  than  Euclid’s 
definition. 

VOL.  XII.  4 H 


128 


JOINER  Y. 


Joinery.  If  two  lines,  AB  and  CD,  be  drawn  upon  a piece  of  paste- 
board, at  right  angles  to  one  another,  crossing  at  the  point 
E,  and  the  pasteboard  be  cut  half  through,  according  to 


Fig.  II 


the  line  AB,  so  that  it  may  turn 
upon  that  line  as  a joint ; then,  to 
whatever  angle,  CED,  fig.  11,  the 
\ parts  may  be  turned,  the  lines  EC 

and  ED  will  be  always  in  the  same 
plane.'  Also,  a line  FD,  drawn 
from  any  point  D,  in  the  line  ED, 
to  any  point,  F,  in  the  line  EC,  will 
be  always  in  the  same  plane.  From 
these  self-evident  properties  of 
planes,  it  is  easy  to  determine  the 
angle  formed  by  any  two  planes, 
when  two  projections,  or  one  projection  and  the  develop- 
ment of  the  surfaces,  are  given. 

19.  Let  ABC,  fig.  12,  be  the  plan  of  part  of  a pyramid, 

Fig.  12.  and  BD  the  elevation  of  the  arris, 

or  line  formed  by  the  common  sec- 
tion of  the  planes  in  respect  to  the 
line  EB  ; EB  being  the  projection 
of  that  arris  upon  the  plan. 

Draw  AC  perpendicular  to  EB, 
cutting  it  in  any  point  E,  and  from 
E draw  EF  perpendicular  to  DB. 
With  the  radius  EF,  and  centre  E, 
cross  EB  in  f,  and  join  A/ and  fC, 
then  the  angle  A/C  is  the  angle 
formed  by  the  planes  of  the  pyra- 
mid. 

The  angle  may  be  constructed 
when  the  plan  and  elevation  of  any 
two  lines  drawn  in  thepla  nes,  so  as  to  intersect  in  the  arris, 
are  given  ; but  as  these  projections  are  not  often  given  in 
drawings  of  joiners’  work,  we  have  inserted  the  preceding, 
though  it  be  a less  general  method.1 

The  backing,  or  angle  for  the  back  of  hip-rafters  in  car- 
pentry, and  of  hipped  sky-lights,  is  found  in  this  manner  ; 
ABC  being,  in  that  case,  supposed  to  be  the  plan  of  an 
angle  of  the  roof  or  sky-light,  and  DB  the  inclination  of 
the  hip-rafter. 

20.  To  shew  how  the  angle  formed  by  two  planes  may 
be  found  when  the  plan  and  development  are  given,  let  it 
be  required  to  find  the  angle  contained  by  the  two  faces  of 
a square  pyramid,  fig.  5. 

Draw  FB  perpendicular  to  AC,  and  with  the  radius  BF, 
and  centre  B,  describe  the  arc  FG.  Then,  with  the  ra- 
dius DB,  and  centre  F,  cross  the  former  arc  in  G,  join  BG, 
and  FBG  is  the  angle  formed  by  two,  the  inclined  faces  of 
the  pyramid. 

Raking  Mouldings. 

Kaking  21.  When  an  inclined  or  raking  moulding  is  intended  to 
mouldings. join  with  a level  moulding,  at  either  an  exterior  or  an  in-  > 
terior  angle,  the  form  of  the  level  moulding  being  given,  it 
is  necessary  that  the  form  of  the  inclined  moulding  should 
be  determined,  so  that  the  corresponding  parts  of  the  sur- 
faces of  the  two  mouldings  should  meet  in  the  same  plane, 
this  plane  being  the  plane  of  the  mitre.  It  may  be  other- 
wise expressed,  by  saying  that  the  mouldings  should  mitre 
truly  together. 

If  the  angle  be  a right  angle,  the  method  of  finding  the 
form  of  the  inclined  moulding  is  very  easy  ; and  as  it  is  not 
very  difficult  for  any  other  angle,  it  may  perhaps  be  best 
to  give  a general  method,  and  to  illustrate  it  by  examples 
of  common  occurrence. 


Fiff.  13. 


General  Method  of  describing  a Raking  Moulding , when  Joinery- 
the  Angle  and  the  Rake,  or  inclination  of  the  Moulding,  s— — - ' 1 

is  given. 

Let  AB  C,  fig.  1 3,  be  the  plan  of  the  angle  of  a body,  General 

which  is  to  have  a level  method, 
moulding  on  the  side  AB  ; 
and  this  level  moulding  is 
to  mitre  with  an  inclined 
moulding  on  the  side  BC. 

Also,  let  CBD  be  the 
angle  the  inclined  moulding 
makes  with  a level  or  hori- 
zontal line  BC. 

Produce  AB,  and  draw 
C b perpendicular  to  AB  ; 
also  make  DC  perpendicu- 
lar to  BC,  and  d C perpen- 
dicular to  b C.  Set  off  C d 
equal  to  CD,  and  join  bd  ; 
then  the  inclined  moulding  must  be  drawn  on  lines  parallel 
to  b d. 

Let  1,  2,  3,  4,  & c.  be  any  number  of  points  in  the  given 
section  of  the  level  moulding ; from  each  of  these  points 
draw  a line  parallel  to  b d,  and  draw  A 6'  perpendicular  to 
bd.  Set  off  the  points  1',  2',  3',  4',  &c.  at  the  same  dis- 
tances respectively  from  the  line  A 6',  as  the  correspond- 
ing points  1,  2,  3,  4,  &c.  are  from  the  line  AB,  and  through 
the  points  V,  2',  3',  Sec.  draw  the  moulding.  The  mould- 
ing thus  found  will  mitre  with  the  given  one  ; also,  suppos- 
ing the  inclined  moulding  to  be  given,  the  level  one  may 
be  found  in  like  manner. 

If  the  angle  ABC  be  less  than  a right  angle,  the  whole 
process  remains  the  same ; but  when  it  is  a right  angle,  BD 
coincides  with  bd;  and  the  method  of  describing  the  mould- 
ing becomes  the  same  as  that  usually  given  ; as  it  does  not 
then  require  the  preparatory  steps  which  are  necessary 
when  the  angle  is  any  other  than  a right  angle. 

22.  It  is  in  pediments,  chiefly,  that  the  method  of  form-  por 

Fig.  14  represents  part  ofments. 

Fig.  14. 


ing  raking  mouldings  is  of  use. 


a pediment ; AB  is  that  part  of  toe  evel  moulding  which 
mitres  with  the  inclined  moulding;  all  that  part  of  the  cor- 
nice below  B,  being  continued  along  the  front,  the  lower 
members  of  the  raking  cornice  stop  upon  it,  and,  therefore, 
do  not  require  to  be  traced  from  the  other. 

In  that  part  of  the  cornice  marked  AB,  set  off  a suffi- 
cient number  of  points ; and  from  each  of  these  points  draw 
a line  parallel  to  the  rake,  or  inclination  of  the  pediment. 
Also,  let  a verticle  line  be  drawn  to  each  of  the  same  points 
from  the  horizontal  line  rs.  Make  s't  perpendicular  to  the 
inclination  of  the  pediment,  and  with  a slip  of  paper,  or  by 


1 On  this  subject  the  reader  may  consult  Monge’s  Geometric  Descriptive,  Art.  19  et  20,  par.  23  and  24,  4th  edition,  Paris,  1020. 


JOINERY. 


129 


Joinery,  means  of  arcs  of  circles,'  transfer  the  distances  on  rs  to 
“V— — ' the  line  r's,  and  from  the  points  thus  found,  draw  lines 
parallel  to  st ; the  intersection  of  these,  with  the  inclined 
lines,  will  determine  the  form  of  the  moulding,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  letters. 

When  a pediment  has  a cornice  with  modillions,  the  caps 
of  the  modillions  require  to  be  traced  by  the  same  method. 
For  skirt-  23.  It  sometimes  happens,  that  an  inclined  base-mould- 
ings. ing  has  to  mitre  with  a level  one  at  an  angle  ; and  as  the 
same  thing  occurs  still  more  frequently  with  other  mould- 
ing, such  as  cornices  under  the  steps  of  stairs,  &c.  we  shall 
give  another  example,  which  will  serve  still  farther  to  illus- 
trate the  method  of  proceeding  in  such  cases. 

In  fig.  15,  a raking  base-moulding  is  shewn,  where  the 

Fig.  15. 


Remarks 


inclined  moulding  B is  traced  to  mitre  with  the  horizontal 
moulding  C ; and  the  horizontal  moulding  A is  traced  to 
mitre  with  the  inclined  one  B.  The  preceding  examples 
being  understood,  the  lines  and  letters  in  the  figure  will  be 
sufficient  to  show  the  mouldings  are  traced. 

24.  Mouldings  being  almost  the  only  part  of  modern 
on  mould-  joiners’  work,  which  can,  in  strictness,  be  called  ornamen- 
ings‘  tal,  and  consequently  that  in  which  the  taste  of  the  work- 
man is  most  apparent,  we  shall  offer  a remark  or  two  that 
may  have  their  use.  The  form  of  a moulding  should  be 
distinct  and  varied,  forming  a bold  outline  of  a succession 
of  curved  and  fiat  surfaces,  disposed  so  as  to  form  distinct 
masses  of  light  and  shade.  If  the  mouldings  be  of  consi- 
derable length,  a greater  distinction  of  parts  is  necessary 
than  in  short  ones. 

Mouldings  for  the  internal  part  of  a building  should  not, 
however,  have  much  projection ; the  proper  degree  of  shade 
may  always  be  given,  with  better  effect,  by  deep  sinkings 
judiciously  disposed.  The  light  in  a room  is  not  sufficient- 
ly strong  to  relieve  mouldings,  without  resorting  to  this 
method ; and  hence  it  is  that  quirked  mouldings  are  so 
much  esteemed. 


Qualifica- 
tions of  a 
good 
joiner. 


Sect.  II. — On  the  Construction  of  Joiners’  Work. 

25.  The  goodness  of  joiners’  work  depends  chiefly  upon 
the  care  that  has  been  bestowed  in  joining  the  materials. 
In  carpentry,  framing  owes  its  strength  to  the  form  and 
position  of  its  parts  ; but  in  joinery,  the  strength  of  a frame 
depends  upon  the  strength  of  the  joinings.  The  import- 
ance, therefore,  of  fitting  the  joints  together  as  accurately 
as  possible,  is  obvious.  It  is  very  desirable,  that  a joiner 
should  be  a quick  workman ; but  it  is  still  more  so  that  he 
should  be  a good  one ; that  he  should  join  his  materials 
with  firmness  and  accuracy  ; that  he  should  make  surfaces 
even  and  smooth,  mouldings  true  and  regular,  and  the  parts 
intended  to  move  so  that  they  may  be  used  with  ease  and 
freedom. 

Where  dispatch  is  considered  as  the  chief  excellence  of 
a workman,  it  is  not  probable  that  he  will  strive  to  improve 


angles. 


himself  in  his  art,  further  than  to  produce  the  greatest  Joinery, 
quantity  of  barely  tolerable  work  with  the  least  quantity  of^— 
labour.  In  some  articles  of  short  duration,  dispatch  in  the 
manufacture  may  be  of  greater  importance ; but  in  works 
that  ought  to  remain  firm  for  years,  it  certainly  is  bad  eco- 
nomy to  spare  a few  shillings’  worth  of  labour  at  the  risk 
of  being  annoyed  with  a piece  of  bad  work  as  long  as  it 
will  hold  together. 

We  have  seen,  with  no  small  degree  of  pleasure,  the 
effect  of  encouraging  good  workmanship  in  the  construc- 
tion of  machinery,  and  would  recommend  that  a like  en- 
couragement should  be  given  to  superior  workmen  in  other 
arts. 

Joining  Angles. 

26.  When  the  length  of  a joint  at  an  angle  is  not  con-  On  joining 
siderable,  it  is  sufficient  to  cut  the  Fig.  16. 

joint,  so  that  when  the  parts  are  join- 
ed, the  plane  of  the  joint  shall  bisect 
the  angle.  This  kind  of  joint  is  shewn 
for  two  different  angles,  by  fig.  16. 

When  an  angle  of  considerable 
length  is  to  be  joined,  and  the  kind 
of  work  does  not  require  a joining 
should  be  concealed,  fig.  17  is  often 
employed ; the  small  bead  renders  the 
appearance  of  the  joint  less  objectionable, 
because  any  irregularities,  from  shrinkage, 
are  not  seen  in  the  shade  of  the  quirk  of 
the  bead. 

A bead  upon  an  angle,  where  the  na- 
ture of  the  thing  does  not  determine  it  to 
be  an  arris,  is  attended  with  many  ad- 
vantages ; it  is  less  liable  to  he  injured,  and  admits  of  a 
secure  joint,  without  the  appearance  of  one.  Fig.  18  shews 
Fig.  18.  Fig.  16.  Fig.  20. 


a joint  of  this  description,  which  should  always  be  used  in 
passages. 

Fig.  19  represents  a very  good  joint  for  an  exterior  angle, 
whether  it  be  a long  or  short  one.  Such  a joint  may  be 
nailed  both  ways.  But  the  joint  represented  by  fig.  20  is 
superior  to  it ; the  parts  being  drawn  together  by  the  form 
of  the  joint  itself,  they  can  be  fitted  with  more  accuracy, 
and  joined  with  certainty.  The  angles  of  pilasters  are  often 
joined,  as  fig.  20. 

Interior  angles  are  commonly  joined,  as  shewn  by  fig.  21. 

Fig.  21.  If  the  upper  or  lower  edge  be  visible,  the 
• 1 joint  is  mitred,  as  in  fig.  16,  at  the  edge 

only,  the  other  part  of  the  joint  being  groov- 
ed, as  in  fig.  21.  In  this  manner  are  put 
together  the  skirting  and  dado  at  the  inte- 
rior angles  of  rooms,  the  backs,  and  back- 
linings  of  windows,  the  jambs  of  door-ways, 
and  various  other  parts  of  joiners’  work. 

Framing. 

27.  Frames  in  joinery  are  usually  connected  by  mortise  The  object 
tenon  joints,  with  gooves  to  receive  pannels.  Doors,  win-offram- 
dow-shutters,  &c.  are  framed  in  this  manner.  The  object inS- 
in  framing  is,  to  reduce  the  wood  into  narrow  pieces,  so 
that  the  work  may  not  be  sensibly  affected  by  its  shrink- 


130 

Joinery. 


JOINERY. 


Joining 

curved 

pieces. 


age ; and,  at  the  same  time,  it  enables  us  to  vary  the  sur- 
face without  much  labour. 

From  this  view  of  the  subject,  the  joiner  will  readily  per- 
ceive, that  neither  the  parts  of  the  frame  nor  the  pannels 
should  be  wide.  And  as  the  frame  should  be  composed 
of  narrow  pieces,  it  follows,  that  the  pannels  should  not  be 
very  long,  otherwise  the  frame  will  want  strength.  The 
pannels  of  framing  should  not  be  more  than  1 5 inches  wide, 
and  4 feet  long,  and  pannels-  so  large  as  this  should  be 
avoided  as  much  as  possible.1  The  width  of  the  framing 
is  commonly  about  one-third  of  the  width  of  the  pannel. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance,  in  framing,  that  the  tenons 
and  mortises  should  be  truly  made.  After  a mortise  has 
been  made  with  the  mortise  chisel,  it  should  be  rendered 
perfectly  even  with  a float ; an  instrument  which  differs 
from  a single  cut,  or  float  file,  only  by  having  larger  teeth. 
An  inexperienced  workman  often  makes  his  work  fit  too 
tight  in  one  place,  and  too  easy  in  another,  hence  the  mor- 
tise is  split  by  driving  the  parts  together,  and  the  work  is 
never  firm  ; whereas  if  the  tenon  fill  the  mortise  equally, 
without  using  any  considerable  force  in  driving  the  work 
together,  is  is  found  to  be  firm  and  sound.  The  thickness 


Fig.  22. 


of  tenons  should  be  about  one-fourth 
of  that  of  the  framing,  and  the  width 
of  a tenon  should  never  exceed  about 
five  times  its  thickness,  otherwise, 
in  wedging,  the  tenon  will  become 
bent,  and  bulge  out  of  the  sides  of 
the  mortise.  If  the  rail  be  wide, 
two  mortises  should  be  made,  with 
a space  of  solid  wood  between ; 
fig.  22  shews  the  tenons  for  a wide 
rail. 

In  thick  framing,  the  strength  and  firmness  of  the  joint 
is  much  increased  by  putting  a cross  or  feather  tongue  in 
on  each  side  of  the  tenon ; these  tongues  are  about  an 
inch  in  length,  and  are'  easily  put  in  with  a plough  proper 
for  such  purposes.  The  projected  figure  of  the  end  of  a 
rail,  fig.  22,  shews  these  tongues  put  in,  in  the  style  there 
are  grooves  ploughed  to  receive  them. 

Sometimes,  in  thick  framing,  a double  tenon  in  the  thick- 
ness is  made  ; but  we  give  the  preference  to  a single  one, 
when  tongues  are  put  in  the  shoulders,  as  we  have  describ- 
ed ; because  a strong  tenon  is  better  than  two  weak  ones, 
and  there  is  less  difficulty  in  fitting  one  than  two. 

The  pannels  of  framing  should  be  made  to  fill  the  grooves, 
so  as  not  to  rattle,  and  yet  to  allow  the  pannels  to  shrink 
without  splitting. 

28.  When  a frame  consists  of  curved  pieces,  they  are 
Fig.  23.  often  joined  by  means  of  pieces  of 

^ ^ hard  wood  called  keys.  Fig  23  is 

JiSiJU  the  head  of  a Gothic  window  frame, 

joined  with  a key,  with  a plan  of  the 
joint  below  it.  A cross  tongue  is 
put  in  on  each  side  of  the  key,  and 
the  joint  is  tightened  by  means  of 
the  wedges  a a. 

It  is,  however,,  a better  method  to 
join  such  pieces  by  means  of  a screw 
bolt  instead  of  a key,  the  cross  tongues  being  used  which- 
ever method  is  adopted. 


Joining  with  Glue. 

Joining  29.  It  is  seldom  possible  to  procure  boards  sufficiently 
with  glue,  wide  for  pannels  without  a joint,  on  account  of  heart  shakes, 


which  open  in  drying.  In  cutting  out  pannels,  for  good  Joinery, 
work,  shaken  wood  should  be  carefully  avoided.  That  part  — —n J 
near  the  pith  is  generally  the  most  defective. 

If  the  pannels  be  thick  enough  to  admit  of  a cross  or 
feather  tongue  in  the  joint,  one  should  always  be  inserted, 
for  then,  if  the  joint  should  fail,  the  surfaces  will  be  kept 
even,  and  it  will  prevent  light  passing  through. 

Sometimes  plane  surfaces  of  considerable  width  and 
length  are  introduced  in  joiners’  work,  as  in  dado,  window 
backs,  &c. ; such  surfaces  are  commonly  formed  of  inch, 
or  inch  and  quarter,  boards  joined  with  glue,  and  a cross 
or  feather  tongue  ploughed  into  each  joint.  When  the 
boards  are  glued  together,  and  have  become  dry,  tapering 
pieces  of  wood,  called  keys,  are  grooved  in,  across  the  back, 
with  a dovetail  groove.  These  keys  preserve  the  surface 
straight,  and  also  allow  it  to  shrink  and  expand  with  the 
changes  of  the  weather. 

30.  It  would  be  an  endless  task  to  describe  all  the  me-  Glueingup 
thods  that  have  been  employed  to  glue  up  bodies  of  such  curved 
varied  forms  as  occur  in  joinery;  for  every  joiner  forms wor^* 
methods  of  his  own,  and  merely  from  his  being  most  fami- 
liar with  his  own  process,  he  will  perform  his  work,  accord- 
ing to  it,  in  a better  manner  than  by  another,  which,  to 

an  unprejudiced  mind,  has  manifestly  the  advantage  over 
it.  The  end  and  aim  of  the  joiner,  in  all  these  operations, 
is  to  avoid  the  peculiar  imperfections  and  disadvantages  of 
his  materials,  and  to  do  this  with  least  expense  of  labour 
or  material.  The  straightness  of  the  fibres  of  wood  ren- 
ders it  unfit  for  curved  surfaces,  at  least  when  the  curva- 
ture is  considerable.  Hence  short  pieces  are  glued  toge- 
ther as  nearly  in  the  form  desired  as  can  be,  and  the  ap- 
parent surface  is  covered  with  a thin  veneer ; or  the  work 
is  glued  up  in  pieces  that  are  thin  enough  to  bend  to  the 
required  form.  Sometimes  a thin  piece  of  wood  is  bent  to 
the  required  form  upon  a cylinder  or  saddle,  and  blocks 
are  jointed  and  glued  upon  the  back  ; when  the  whole  is 
completetely  dry  it  will  preserve  the  form  that  had  been 
given  to  it  by  the  cylinder. 

The  proper  thickness  for  the  pieces  to  be  bent  may  be  To  deter- 
easily  determined  by  an  easy  experiment  on  a piece  of  the  mine  the 
same  kind  of  wood.  Thus,  select  a piece  of  wood,  of  the  thickness 
same  kind  as  that  to  he  used,  and  bend  it  as  much  as  it  ° -e^g  to  be 
will  bear  without  injury  ; then  ascertain  the  radius  of  cur-  gjuTd  to- 
vature,  and  also  the  thickness  of  the  piece,  at  the  most  gether. 
curved  part  of  it.  From  these  data  the  proper  thickness 
for  any  other  curve  will  be  determined  by  the  following 
proportion : 

As  the  radius  of  curvature,  found  by  experiment,  is  to 
the  thickness  of  the  piece  tried ; so  is  the  radius  of  any 
other  curve  to  the  thickness  of  the  piece  that  may  be  bent 
into  it.1 

For  example,  we  have  found  that  a piece  of  straight 
grained  white  deal,  of  an-,  inch  in  thickness,  may  be  bent, 
without  injury,  into  a curve  of  which  the  radius  is  120 

radius 

inches,  therefore,  120:1::  radius : thickness  = ^ That 

is,  a piece  of  deal  of  the  same  quality  may  be  bent  into  any 
curve,  of  which  the  radius  is  not  less  than  120  times  its 
thickness. 

A piece  of  work  glued  up  in  thicknesses  should  be  very 
well  done ; but  it  too  often  happens  that  the  joints  are  vi  • 
sible,  irregular,  and  in  some  places  open ; therefore  other 
methods  have  been  tried. 

31.  If  a piece  of  wood  be  boiled  in  water  for  a certain  Bending 
time,  then  taken  out  and  immediately  bent  into  any  parti-  f’J  steam- 

‘'I  lnrr  nr 


cular  form,  and  it  be  retained  in  that  form  till  it  be  dry,  a 


boiling. 


1 Pannels  of  external  doors  and  shutters  may  be  rendered  more  secure  by  boring  them,  and  inserting  iron  wires.  See  Trans,  of  the 
Society  of  Arts,  vol-  xxv.  p.  106. 

2 The  reader  will  find  some  interesting  propositions  relating  to  fixture  in  the  Article  Carpentry,  p.  624,  vol.  ii. 


JOINER  Y. 


131 


Joinery,  permanent  change  .takes  place  in  the  mechanical  relations 
of  its  parts ; so  that  though,  when  relieved,  it  will  spring 
back  a little,  yet  it  will  not  return  to  its  natural  form. 

The  same  effect  may  be  produced  by  steaming  wood ; 
but  though  both  these  methods  have  been  long  practised  to 
a considerable  extent  in  the  art  of  ship-building,  we  are 
not  aware  that  any  general  principles  have  been  discovered, 
either  by  experiment  or  otherwise,  that  will  enable  us  to 
apply  it  to  an  art  like  joinery,  where  so  much  precision  is 
required.  We  are  not  aware  that  it  has  been  tried;  but, 
before  it  can  be  rendered  extensively  useful,  the  relation 
between  the  curvature  to  which  it  is  bent,  and  that  which 
it  assumes,  when  relieved,  should  be  determined,  and  also 
the  degree  of  curvature  which  may  be  given  to  a piece  of 
a given  thickness. 

The  time  that  a piece  of  wood  should  be  boiled,  or  steam- 
ed, in  order  that  it  may  be  in  the  best  state  for  bending, 
should  be  made  the  subject  of  experiments  ; and  this  being 
determined,  the  relation  between  the  time  and  the  bulk  of 
the  piece  should  be  ascertained. 

For  the  joiner’s  purposes,  we  imagine,  that  the  process 
might  be  greatly  improved,  by  saturating  the  convex  side 
of  each  piece  with  a strong  solution  of  glue,  immediately 
after  bending  it.  By  filling,  in  this  manner,  the  extended 
pores,  and  allowing  the  glue  to  harden  thoroughly  before 
relieving  the  pieces,  they  would  retain  their  shape  better. 

32.  Large  pieces  of  timber  should  never  be  used  in  join- 
ery, because  they  cannot  be  procured  sufficiently  dry  to 
prevent  them  splitting  with  the  heat  of  a warm  room. 
Therefore,  the  external  part  of  columns,  pilasters,  and  works 
of  a like  kind,  should  be  formed  of  thin  pieces  of  dry  wood  ; 
and,  if  support  be  required,  a post,  or  an  iron  pillar,  may 
be  placed  within  the  exterior  column.  Thus,  to  form  co- 
lumns of  wood,  so  that  they  shall  not  be  liable  to  split,  nar- 
row pieces  of  wood  are  used,  not  exceeding  five  inches  in 
width.  These  are  jointed  like  the  staves  of  a cask,  and 
glued  togethei-,  with  short  blocks  glued  along  at  each  joint. 
Fig.  24  is  a plan  of  the  lower  end  of  a column  glued  up 


Glueing  up 

wooden 

columns. 


Fig.  24. 


in  staves ; the  bevel  at  A is  used  for 
forming  the  staves,  that  at  B is  used 
for  adjusting  them  when  they  are 
glued  together.  A similar  plan  must 
be  made  for  the  upper  end  of  the  co- 
lumn, which  will  give  the  width  of  the 
upper  end  of  the  staves.  The  bevels 
taken-  from  the  plan,  as  at  A and  B, 
are  not  the  true  bevels  ; but  they  are 
those  generally  used,  and  are  very  nearly  true,  when  the 
columns  are  not  much  diminished.  To  find  the  true  bevels, 
the  principle  we  have  given  in  art.  1 9 should  be  applied. 
The  same  method  may  be  adopted  for  forming  large  pillars 
for  tables,  &c.  . 

If  a column  have  flutes,  with  fillets,  the  joints  should  be 
in  the  fillets,  in  order  to  make  the  column  as  strong  as  pos- 
sible ; also,  if  a column  be  intended  to  have  a swell  in  the 
middle,  proper  thickness  of  wood  should  be  allowed  for  it. 

When  columns  or  pillars  are  small,  they  may  be  made  of 
dry  wood ; and  to  secure  them  against  splitting,  a hole  may 


Small  co- 
lumns, ta- 
ble legs,  be  bored  down  the  axis  of  each  column. 
& c. 


Fixing 
work  to- 
gelher. 


Fixing  Joiners’  Work. 

33.  We  have  hitherto  confined  our  remarks  to  that  part 
of  joinery  which  is  performed  at  the  bench  ; but  by  far  the 
most  important  part  remains  to  be  considered.  For,  how- 
ever well  a piece  of  work  may  have  been  prepared,  if  it  be 
not  properly  fixed,  it  cannot  fulfil  its  intended  purpose. 
As  in  the  preceding  part,  we  shall  state  the  general  prin- 
ciples that  ought  to  be  made  the  basis  of  practice,  and  il- 
lustrate those  principles  by  particular  examples. 

If  the  part  to  be  fixed  consist  of  boards  jointed  together, 


but  not  framed,  it  should  be  fixed  so  that  it  may  shrink,  or  Joinery, 
swell  without  splitting.  The  nature  of  the  work  will  gene- ' 
rally  determine  how  this  may  be  effected.  Let  us  suppose 
that  a plain  back  of  a window  is  to  be  fixed.  Fig  25  is  a 
Fig.  25.  section  shewing  B the  back  of  the  win- 
dow, A the  window-sill,  D the  floor,  and 
C the  skirting.  The  back  is  supposed  to 
^ be  prepared,  as  we  have  stated  in  art.  29, 
and  that  it  is  kept  straight  by  a dovetail- 
ed key  a.  Now,  let  the  back  be  firmly 
nailed  to  the  window-sill  A,  and  let  a nar- 
row piece  d,  with  a groove,  and  cross 
tongue,  in  its  upper  edge,  be  fixed  to  bond 
timbers  or  plugs  in  the  wall ; the  tongue 
being  inserted  also  into  a corresponding 
groove  in  the  lower  edge  of  the  back  of  B. 

It  is  obvious,  that  the  tongue  being  loose,  the  back  B may 
contract  or  expand,  as  a pannel  in  a frame.  The  dado  of 
a room  should  be  fixed  in  the  same  manner.  In  the  prin-  -p— 
cipal  rooms  of  a house,  the  skirting  C is  usually  grooved  skirting 
into  the  floor  D,  and  fixed  only  to  the  narrow  piece  d,  for  rooms, 
which  is  called  a ground.  By  fixing,  in  this  manner,  the 
skirting  covers,  the  joint,  which  would  otherwise  soon  he 
open  by  the  shrinking  of  the  back,  and  from  the  skirting 
being  grooved  into  the  floor,  but  not  fastened  to  it,  there 
cannot  be  an  open  joint  between  the  skirting  and  floor. 

When  it  is  considered,  that  an  open  joint,  in  such  a situa- 
tion, must  become  a receptacle  for  dust,  and  a harbour  for 
insects,  the  importance  of  adopting  this  method  of  fixing 
skirting  will  be  apparent. 

In  fixing  any  board  above  five  or  six  inches  wide,  similar 
precautions  are  necessary ; otherwise  it  is  certain  to  split 
when  the  house  becomes  inhabited.  We  may,  in  general, 
either  fix  one  edge,  and  groove  the  other,  so  as  to  leave  it 
at  liberty,  or  fix  it  in  the  middle,  and  leave  both  edges  at 
liberty. 

Sometimes  a wide  board,  or  a piece  consisting  of  several  Fixing 
boards,  may  be  fixed  by  means  of  buttons,  screwed  to  the  landing  of 
back,  which  turn  into  grooves  in  the  framing,  bearers,  or  stairs, 
joists,  to  which  it  is  to  be  fixed.  If  any  shrinking  takes  t0Ps 
place  the  buttons  slide  in  the  grooves.  In  this  manner  the ta)  es’  &c 
landing  of  stairs  are  fixed,  and  it  is  much  the  best  mode  of 
fixing  the  top  of  a table  to  its  frame. 

34.  The  extension  of  the  principle  of  ploughing  and  Forming 
tonguing  work  together  is  one  of  the  most  important  ofarchi- 
the  improvements  that  have  been  introduced  by  modern  traves,  &c. 
joiners.  It  is  an  easy,  simple,  and  effectual  method  of 
combination,  and  one  that  provides  against  the  greatest  de- 
fect of  timber  work,  its  shrinkage.  By  means  of  this  me- 
thod, the  bold  mouldings  of  Gothic  architecture  can  be  ex- 
ecuted with  a comparatively  small  quantity  of  material ; and 
even  in  the  mouldings  of  modern  architecture  it  saves  much 
labour.  For  example,  the  moulded  part  of  an  architrave 
Fig.  26.  may  be  joined  with  the  plain  part, 

Iff  as  shewn  by  fig.  26.  If  this  me- 

1L;  thod  be  compared  with  the  old 

method  of  glueing  one  piece  upon 
i f another,  its  advantage  will  be  more 

evident. 

33.  The  architraves,  skirtings,  and  surbase  mouldings,  Fixitr? 
are  fixed  to  pieces  of  wool  called  grounds ; and  as  the  grounds, 
straightness  and  accuracy  of  these  mouldings  must  depend 
upon  the  care  that  has  been  taken  to  fix  the  grounds  truly  ; 
it  will  appear,  that  fixing  grounds,  which  is  a part  often  left 
to  inferior  workmen,  in  reality  requires  much  skill  and  at- 
tention ; besides,  they  are  almost  always  the  guide  for  the 
plasterer.  Where  the  plasterer’s  work  joins  the  grounds, 
they  should  have  a small  groove  ploughed  in  the  edge  to 
form  a key  for  the  plaster. 

36.  In  our  remarks  on  construction,  we  must  not  omit  Laying 
to  say  a few  words  on  laying  floors,  because  it  will  give  us  floors. 


132 


JOINERY. 


Joinery,  an  opportunity  of  pointing  out  a defect  which  might  be 
— ' easily  remedied.  The  advice  of  Evelyn,  to  tack  the  boards 
down  only  the  first  year,  and  nail  them  down  for  good  the 
next,  is  certainly  the  best,  when  it  is  convenient  to  adopt 
it ; but,  as  this  is  very  seldom  the  case,  we  must  expect 
the  joints  to  open  more  or  less.  Now  these  joints  always 
admit  a considerable  current  of  cold  air,  and  also,  in  an 
upper  room,  unless  there  be  a counter  floor,  the  ceiling  be- 
low may  be  spoiled  by  spilling  a little  water,  or  even  by 
washing  the  floor.  To  avoid  this,  we  would  recommend  a 
tongue  to  be  ploughed  into  each  joint,  according  to  the 
old  practice.  When  the  boards  are  narrow,  they  might  be 
laid  without  any  appearance  of  nails,  in  the  same  way  as  a 
dowelled  floor  is  laid,  the  tongue  serving  the  same  pur- 
pose as  the  dowels.  In  this  case  we  would  use  cross  or 
feather  tongues  for  the  joints. 

Folding  There  is  a method  sometimes  used  in  laying  floors,  which 
floors  cen-  Workmen  call  folding;  according  to  this  method,  two  boards 
are  laid,  and  nailed  at  such  a distance  apait,  that  the  space 
is  a little  less  than  the  aggregate  width  of  the  boards  in- 
tended for  it ; these  boards  are  then  put  to  their  places, 
and,  on  account  of  the  narrowness  of  the  space  left  for  them, 
they  rise  like  an  arch  between  its  abutments.  The  work- 
men force  them  down  by  jumping  upon  them.  According- 
ingly,  the  boards  are  never  soundly  fixed  to  the  joists,  nor 
can  the  floor  be  laid  with  any  kind  of  evenness  or  accuracy. 
W e merely  notice  this  method  here,  in  order  that  it  may 
be  avoided. 

As  boards  can  seldom  be  got  long  enough  to  do  without 
Fig.  27.  Fig.  28. 

^ A 


Headin. 

joints. 


|L 

Sill 

joints,  it  is  usual,  except  in  very  inferior  work,  to  join  the 
ends  with  a tongued  joint,  as  shewn  in  fig.  27,  where  B is 
the  joist.  The  etched  board  is  first  laid,  and  nailed  to  the 
joist. 

In  oak  floors,  the  ends  are  forked  together  sometimes,  as 
shewn  at  A,  fig.  28,  in  order  to  render  the  joints  less  con- 
spicuous. 

The  joints  should  be  kept  as  distant  from  one  another  as 
possible. 

Hinging. 


Binging.  37-  It  requires  a considerable  degree  of  care  to  hang  a 
door,  a shutter,  or  any  other  piece  of  work  in  the  best  man- 
ner. In  the  hinge,  the  pin  should  be  perfectly  straight,  and 
truly  cylindrical,  and  the  parts  accurately  fitted  together. 

The  hinges  should  be  placed  so  that  their  axes  may  be 
in  the  same  straight  line,  as  any  defect  in  this  respect  will 
produce  a considerable  strain  upon  the  hinges  every  time 
the  hanging  part  is  moved,  which  prevents  it  from  moving 
freely,  and  is  injurious  to  the  hinges. 

In  hanging  doors,  centres  are  often  used  instead  of  hin- 
ges ; but,  on  account  of  the  small  quantity  of  friction  in 
centres,  a door  moves  too  easily,  or  so  that  a slight  draft  of 
air  accelerates  it  so  much  in  falling  to,  that  it  shakes  the 
building,  and  is  disagreeable.  We  have  seen  this  in  some 
degree  remedied  by  placing  a small  spring  to  receive  the 
shock  of  the  door. 

The  greatest  difficulty,  in  hanging  doors,  is  to  make 
them  to  clear  a carpet,  and  be  close  at  the  bottom  when 
shut.  To  do  this,  that  part  of  the  floor  v/hich  is  under  the 
door,  when  shut,  may  be  made  to  rise  above  a quarter  of 
an  inch  above  the  general  level  of  the  floor ; which,  with 
placing  the  hinges  so  as  to  cause  the  door  to  rise  as  it  opens, 
will  be  sufficient,  unless  the  carpet  should  be  a very  thick 
one.  Several  mechanical  contrivances  have  been  used  for 
either  raising  the  door,  or  adding  a part  to  spring  close  to 
the  floor  as  the  door  shuts.  The  latter  is  much  the  better 


method.  the  reader  who  may  be  desirous  of  examining  .Toinerv. 
this  method,  may  consult  the  Transactions  of  the  Society 
of  Arts,  (vol.  xxvi.  p.  196.) 

38.  \ arious  kinds  ol  hinges  are  in  use.  Sometimes  they 
are  concealed,  as  in  the  kind  of  joints  called  rule  joints ; 
others  project,  and  are  intended  to  let  a door  fold  back  over 
projecting  mouldings,  as  in  pulpit  doors.  When  hinges 
project,  the  weight  of  the  door  acts  with  an  increased  lever- 
age  upon  them,  and  they  soon  get  out  of  order,  unless  they 
be  strong  and  well  fixed. 

I he  door  of  a room  should  be  hung  so  that,  in  opening  Room 
the  door,  the  interior  of  the  room  cannot  be  seen  through  doors, 
the  joint.  I his  may  be  done  by  making  the  joint  accord- 
ing to  fig.  29.  I he  bead  should  be  continued  round  the 
door,  and  a common  but- hinge  answers  for  it. 

The  proper  bevel  for  the  edge  of  a door  or  sash  may  beTheproper 


Fig.  29. 


Fig.  30. 


bevel  for 
joints  of  a 
door. 


found  by  drawing  a line  from  the  centre  of  motion  C, 
fig.  30,  to  e,  the  interior  angle  of  the  rebate,  draw  ed  per- 
pendicular to  C e,  which  gives  the  bevel  required.  In  prac- 
tice, the  bevel  is  usually  made  less,  leaving  an  open  space 
in  the  joint  when  the  door  is  shut ; this  is  done  on  account 
of  the  interior  angle  of  the  rebate  often  being  filled  with 
paint. 


Stairs. 


39.  The  construction  of  stairs  is  generally  considered  Stairs, 
the  highest  department  of  the  art  of  joinery,  therefore  we 
treat  of  it  under  a distinct  head. 

The  principal  object  to  be  attended  to  in  stairs  is,  that 
they  afford  a safe  and  easy  communication  between  floors 
of  different  levels.  The  strength  of  a stair  ought  to  be  ap- 
parent as  well  as  real,  in  order  that  those  who  ascend  it 
may  feel  conscious  of  safety.  In  order  to  make  the  com- 
munication safe,  it  should  be  guarded  by  a railing  of  pro- 
per height  and  strength  ; in  order  that  it  may  be  easy,  the 
rise  and  width,  or  tread,  of  the  steps  should  be  regular  and 
justly  proportioned  to  each  other,  with  convenient  landings; 
there  should  be  no  winding  steps,  and  the  top  of  the  rail 
should  be  of  a convenient  height  for  the  hand. 

The  first  person  that  attempted  to  fix  the  relation  be-  p 
tween  the  height  and  width  of  a step,  upon  correct  princi-  proportion 
pies,  was,  we  believe,  Blondel,  in  his  Cours  d’ Architecture,  for  stairs. 
If  a person  walking  npon  a level  plane  move  over  a space, 

P,  at  each  step,  and  the  height  which  the  same  person  could 
ascend  vertically,  with  equal  ease,  were  H ; then,  if  h be 
trie  height  of  a step,  and  p its  width ; the  relation  between 
p and  h must  be  such,  that  when p — P,  h = o;  and  when 
H — h,  p — o.  These  conditions  are  satisfied  by  an  equa- 
tion of  the  form  h — H 0-0  . Blondel  assumes  24 

inches  for  the  value  of  P,  and  12  inches  for  that  of  H; 
substituting  these  values  in  our  equation,  it  becomes 

h — ^ (24 — p),  which  is  precisely  Blondel’s  rule.  We  do 

not  think  these  the  true  values  of  P and  H ; indeed,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  ascertain  them ; but  they  are  so  near, 
and  agree  so  well  with  our  observations  on  stairs  of  easy 
ascent,  that  they  may  be  taken  for  the  elements  of  a prac- 
tical rule.  Hence,  according  as  h or  p is  given,  we  have 

h z=.  ^ (24  — p,  or  p — 24  — 2 h. 

Thus,  if  the  height  of  a step  be  six  inches,  then  24 — 1 2= 

12,  the  width  or  tread  for  a step  that  rises  six  inches. 

40.  The  forms  of  staircases  are  various.  In  towns,  where 


JOINERY. 


133 


Joinery,  space  cannot  be  allowed  for  convenient  forms,  they  are 
often  made  triangular,  circular,  or  elliptical,  with  winding 
steps,  or  of  a mixed  form,  with  straight  sides  and  circular 
ends.  In  large  mansions,  and  in  other  situations,  where 
convenience  and  beauty  are  the  chief  objects  of  attention, 
winding  steps  are  never  introduced  when  it  is  possible  to 
avoid  them.  Good  stairs,  therefore,  require  less  geometri- 
cal skill  than  those  of  an  inferior  character. 

The  best  architectural  effect  is  produced  by  rectangular 
staircases,  with  ornamented  railing  and  newels.  In  Gothic 
structures  scarcely  any  other  kind  can  be  adopted,  with  pro- 
priety, for  a principal  staircase.  Modern  architecture  ad- 
mits of  greater  latitude  in  this  respect ; the  end  of  the  stair- 
case being  sometimes  circular,  and  the  hand-rail  continued, 
beginning  either  from  a scroll  or  a newel. 

41.  When  a rectangular  staircase  has  a continued  rail, 
it  is  necessary  that  it  should  be  curved  so  as  to  change  gra- 
dually from  a level  to  an 


Rectangu- 
lar stair- 
case. 


Fig.  31. 


To  find  the 
cap  for 
newel. 


inclined  direction.  This 
curvature  is  called  the 
ramp  of  the  rail.  The 
plan  of  a staircase  of  this 
kind  is  represented  by 
ABCD,  fig.  31,  and  fig. 
32  shews  a section  of  it, 
supposing  it  to  be  cut 
through  at  ab,  on  the 
plan. 

The  hand-rail  is  sup- 
posed to  begin  with  a 
newel  at  the  bottom,  and 
the  form  of  the  cap  of  the 
newel  ought  to  be  deter- 
mined, so  that  it  will  mi- 
tre with  the  hand-rail. 
Let  H,  fig.  33,  be  the 
section  of  the  hand-rail, 
and  ab  the  radius  of  the 
newel ; then  the  form  of 
the  cap  may  be  traced  at 
C by  the  method  we  have 
already  described.  (Art. 
9 and  10.) 

The  sections  of  hand- 
rails are  of  various  shapes ; 
some  of  the  most  com- 
mon ones  are  too  small ; 
a hand-rail  should  never 
be  less  than  would  re- 
quire a square,  of  which 
the  side  is  2|  inches,  to 
circumscribe  it. 

For  the  level  landings 
of  a staircase  the  height 
of  the  top  of  the  hand-rail  should  be  about  40  inches,  and 
in  any  part  of  the  inclined  rail  the  height  of  its  upper  side 
above  the  middle  of  the  width  of  the  step  should  be  40 
inches  less  the  rise  of  one  step,  when  measured  in  a verti- 
cal direction. 

To  describe  To  describe  the  ramps,  let  rs  be  a vertical  line  drawn 
the  ramps  through  the  middle  of  the  width  of  the  step,  fig.  32 ; set 
ru  equal  to  rs,  and  draw  ut  at  right  angles  with  the  back 
of  the  rail,  cutting  the  horizontal  line  st  in  t.  From  the 
point  t , as  a centre,  describe  the  curve  of  the  rail.  When 
there  is  a contrary  flexure,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  the 
method  of  describing  the  lesser  curve  is  the  same. 

42.  The  hand-rail  of  a stair  often  begins  from  a scroll ; 
and  that  kind  of  spiral  which  is  called  the  logarithmic  spi- 
ral, has  been  proposed  as  the  best  for  the  purpose.  It  is 
shewn  by  writers  on  curve  lines,  that  any  radial  lines  drawn 
from  the  centre  will  be  cut  by  the  logarithmic  spiral  in  one 


Height  for 
rail,  &c. 


of  rails. 


To  draw 
the  loga- 
rithmic 
spiral. 


and  the  same  angle.  By  means  of  this  property  of  the  joinerv. 
curve,  it  may  be  described  as  follows : 

and  draw  AB  perpendicu- 
lar to  DE,  crossing  it  in 
C.  Bisect  the  angles  by 
the  lines  ab,  cd.  Draw 
eBb  to  cut  CB  at  the  an- 
gle proposed  for  the  curve, 
and  to  meet  C b in  b ; 
draw  cb  perpendicular  to 
be,  cutting  C c in  c ; draw 
c a perpendicular  to  c b cut- 
ting C a in  a;  and  pro- 
ceed round  with  as  many 
revolutions  as  may  be  re- 
quired in  the  same  man- 
ner. Then  B,  E,  A,  D, 

F,  G,  &c.  are  points  in 
the  curve,  and  the  lines 
eb,  cb,  ca,  ad,  &c.  are  tangents  to  the  curves  at  these 
points.  Therefore,  the  curve  may  be  either  drawn  by 
hand,  or  by  means  of  circular  arcs.  Also,  any  number  of 
interior  or  exterior  spirals  may  be  drawn  by  drawing  lines 
parallel  to  the  tangents,  as  xy,  yz,  &c. 

If  eb  were  to  cross  BC  at  a right  angle,  the  curve  would 
be  a circle. 

43.  The  scrolls  and  volutes  used  in  architecture  are  al-  a new  gpi_ 
ways  made  to  terminate  in  a circle  at  the  centre  ; conse-  ral  propo- 
quently  none  of  the  curves  described  by  mathematicians  sed  for  vo- 
are  adapted  for  these  purposes.  But  the  construction  welute?^ 
have  employed  for  the  logarithmic  spiral  readily  leads  to  a scrt>1  ’’  c‘ 
species  of  spiral  that  appears  well  suited  for  scrolls  or  vo- 
lutes. In  the  logarithmic  spiral  the  angle  of  the  curve  is 
constant ; but  imagine  the  angle  to  change  regularly,  and 
to  become  a right  angle  at  the  point  where  the  circle  called 
the  eye  begins.  This  would  afford  us  a regular  and  pleas- 
ing curve,  unfolding  itself  from  a circle  in  the  centre. 

This  curve  might  be  called  the  Architectural  Spiral. 

Let  C be  the  centre,  fig.  35,  and  round  this  centre  de- 


Fig.  35. 


scribe  a circle  for  the  eye  of  the  scroll,  or  volute.  Divide 
this  circle  into  eight  equal  parts,  and  draw  lines  from  the 
centre  through  the  points  of  division. 

With  any  radius  a C,  and  C as  a centre,  describe  the 
arc  ac,  and  upon  this  arc  set  oft  any  number  of  equal  divi- 
sions. The  extent  of  a division  must  be  regulated  by  the 
quantity  the  curve  may  unfold  at  each  revolution,  and  the 
number  depends  on  the  number  of  revolutions. 

Then,  beginning  at  A,  draw  Ab  perpendicular  to  C a; 
db  parallel  to  C' ; de  perpendicular  to  C2  ; ef  parallel  to 
C3  ; and  so  on  for  any  number  of  revolutions.  The  points 
A,  B,  D,  E,  F,  G,  and  FI,  in  the  curve,  and  the  tangents 
to  these  points,  are  found ; therefore  the  curve  may  be  de- 
scribed by  hand,  or  by  means  of  circular  arcs. 

The  tangents  to  any  interior  or  exterior  spiral  will  be 
parallel  to  the  ones  first  found,  and,  therefore,  any  number 
may  be  drawn  with  the  greatest  facility. 


Let  C be  the  centre,  fig.  34, 
Fig-  34. 


134 


JOINER  Y. 


Joinery.  Neither  the  logarithmic  nor  the  architectural  spiral  can 
— v— be  drawn  truly  by  circular  arcs  ; but  we  shall  here  point 
out  the  principle  by  which  such  spirals  may  be  drawn. 
When  a spiral  is  drawn  by  means  of  circular  arcs  only,  the 
centres  of  the  adjoining  arcs  must  always  be  upon  the  same 
straight  line  ; and  the  regularity  of  the  curve  will  depend 
on  the  number  of  arcs  employed  to  describe  one  revolu- 
tion. Let  the  proposed  distance  between  the  revolutions 
be  divided  into  as  many  equal- parts  as  there  are  to  be  cir- 
cular arcs  in  one  revolution  ; and,  on  the  eye  as  a centre, 
construct  a regular  polygon  of  the  same  number  of  sides  as 
the  number  of  divisions,  and  on  each  side  equal  to  one  di- 
vision. Then  the  angles  of  the  polygon  will  be  the  centres 
for  describing  the  spiral,  as  shewn  by  the  figures  below, 
where  the  triangle,  square,  and  hexagon,  are  given  as  ex- 
amples : 

Fig.  36.  Fig.  37. 


If  a spiral  be  drawn  to  begin  from  a circle  at  the  cen- 
tre, let  the  arcs  be  described  from  the  angles  of  a rectan- 
gular fret,  as  in  fig.  39,  the  sides  of  which  may  increase  in 
any  regular  proportion.  Or,  a figure  may  be  drawn  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  tangents  of  the  spiral,  fig.  35,  and  the 
arcs  described  in  the  angle,  as  in  fig.  40.  By  either  of 
these  methods  a pleasing  curve  may  be  obtained. 

44.  Fig.  41  represents  the  plan  of  a staircase,  beginning 


with  a scroll,  and  having  steps  winding  round  the  circular 
part  of  the  well -hole. 


In  the  first  place,  let  the  end  of  the  steps  be  developed  Joinery, 
according  to  the  method  we  have  given  in  Art.  1 3.  Fig.  43  ~N.— — 4 

shews  this  development.  'Now,  the  hand-rail  ought  to 
follow  the  inclination  of  a line  drawn  to  touch  the  nosings 
of  the  steps,  except  where  there  is  an  abrupt  transition 
from  the  rake  of  the  winding  to  that  of  the  other  steps  ; at 
such  places  it  must  be  curved ; the  curve  may  be  drawn 
by  the  help  of  intersecting  lines,  as  in  fig.  44,  if  the  work- 
man cannot  trust  to  his  eye. 

The  part  which  is  shaded  in  fig.  43,  represents  the  hand-  Develop- 
rail  and  ends  of  the  steps,  when  spread  out,  and  the  hand- ment  of  the 
rail  is  only  drawn  close  to  the  steps  for  convenience,  as  itcircular 
would  require  too  much  space  to  raise  it  to  its  proper  posi-  *,ai  *" 
tion.  This  development  of  the  rail  is  called  the  falling 
mould. 

The  wood  used  for  hand-rails  being  of  an  expensive 
kind,  it  becomes  of  some  importance  to  consider  how  the 
plank  may  be  cut  so  as  to  require  the  least  quantity  of  ma- 
terial for  the  curved  part  of  the  rail.  Now,  if  we  were  to 
suppose  the  rail  executed,  and  a plain  board  laid  upon  the 
upper  side  of  it,  the  board  would  touch  the  rail  at  three 
points  ; and  a plank  laid  in  the  same  position  as  the  board 
would  be  that  out  of  which  the  rail  could  be  cut  with  the 
least  waste  of  material. 

Let  it  be  required  to  find  the  moulds  for  the  part  ab  of  To  find 
the  rail,  fig.  41,  and  to  avoid  confusing  the  lines  in  ourthef'ace- 
small  figure,  the  part  a b has  been  drawn  to  a larger  scale  rnou^s’ 
in  fig.  42.  The  plain  board,  mentioned  above,  would  touch 


Fig.  42. 


the  rail  at  the  points  marked  C and  B in  the  plan ; draw 
the  line  CB,  and  draw  a line  parallel  to  CB,  so  as  to  touch 
the  curve  at  the  point  E.  Then  E is  the  other  point  on 
the  plan  ; and  a',  e\  and  V,  are  the  heights  of  these  points 
in  the  development,  fig.  43. 

Erect  perpendiculars  to  CB,  from  the  points  C,  E,  and 
B,  fig.  42,  and  set  off  C a,  on  fig.  42,  equal  to  a!c,  fig.  43 ; 

Ee  equal  to  dd,  and  B b equal  to  fb.  Through  the  points 
C and  E,  draw  the  dotted  line  C/i ; through  ae  draw  a line 
to  meet  CE  in  h ; and  through  the  points  ab,  draw  a line 
to  meet  CB  in  g ; then  join  kg,  and  make  C i perpendicu- 
lar to  hg. 

Now,  if  Cd  be  equal  to  Co,  and  perpendicular  to  C i ; 
and  di  be  joined,  it  will  be  the  angle  which  the  plank 
makes  with  the  horizontal  plane,  or  plan.  Therefore,  draw 
FD  parallel  to  C and  find  the  section  by  the  process  de- 
scribed in  Art.  10.  This  section  is  the  same  thing  as 
would  be  obtained  by  projecting  vertical  lines  from  each 
point  in  the  hand-rail  against  the  surface  of  a board,  laid 
to  touch  it  in  three  points.  The  inexperienced  workman 
will  be  much  assisted  in  applying  the  moulds  if  he  acquires 
a clear  notion  of  the  position  when  executed. 

To  find  the  thickness  of  the  plank,  take  the  height  to  Xo  find  the 
the  under  side  of  the  rail  cr  in  the  development,  fig.  43,  thickness  of 
and  set  it  off  from  s,  in  the  line  C i,  to  r , in  fig.  42  ; from  the  plant 


JOINER  Y. 


Joinery,  the  point  ? draw  a line  parallel  to  di,  and  the  distance  be- 
v'- — v"-"  tween  those  parallel  lines  will  be  the  thickness  of  the  plank. 
To  apply  The  mould,  fig.  42,  which  is  traced  from  the  plan,  is 
die  called  the  face  mould.  It  is  applied  to  the  upper  surface 

moulds.  0p  t]ie  p]an]^  which  being  marked,  a bevel  should  be  set  to 
the  angle  id C,  and  this  bevel  being  applied  to  the  edge 
will  give  the  points  to  which  the  mould  must  be  placed  to 
mark  out  the  under  side.  It  is  then  to  be  sawn  out,  and 
wrought  true  to  the  mould.  In  applying  the  bevel,  care 
should  be  taken  to  let  its  stock  be  parallel  to  the  line  di,  if 
the  plank  should  not  be  sufficiently  wide  for  di  to  be  its 
arris. 

After  the  rail  is  truly  wrought  to  the  face  mould,  the 
falling  mould,  fig.  43,  being  applied  to  its  convex  side,  will 
give  the  edge  of  the  upper  surface,  and  the  surface  itself 
will  be  formed  by  squaring  from  the  convex  side,  holding 
the  stock  of  the  square  always  so  that  it  would  be  vertical 
if  the  rail  were  in  its  proper  situation.  The  lower  surface 
is  to  be  parallel  to  the  upper  one. 

The  sudden  change  of  the  width  of  the  ends  of  the  steps 
causes  the  soffit  line  to  have  a broken  or  irregular  appear- 
ance ; to  avoid  it,  the  steps  are  made  begin  to  wind  before 
the  curved  part  begins.  Different  methods  of  proportion- 
ing the  ends  of  the  steps  are  given  by  Nicholson,  Roubo, 
Rondelet,  and  Krafft.  We  cannot  in  this  place  enter  into 
a detail  of  these  methods,  but  for  the  reader’s  information 
a list  of  the  principal  writers  on  staircases  is  subjoined. 

Price,  in  his  British  Carpenter,  4 to.  1735  ; Langley, 
Builders’  Complete  Assistant,  8vo,  1738;  Frezier,  Coupe 
des  Pierres  et  des  Bois,  4to,  1739  ; Roubo,  L’Art  du  Me- 
nuisier,  folio,  1771  ; Skaife,  Key  to  Civil  Architecture,  8vo, 
1774;  Nicholson,  Carpenters’  New  Guide,  4to,  1792  ; 
Carpenters’  and  Joiners’  Assistant,  4to,  1792;  Architec- 
tural Dictionary,  4to  ; Transactions  Society  of  Arts,  &c. 
for  1814  ; Treatise  on  the  Construction  of  Staircases  and 
Handrails , 4to,  1820  ; Rondelet,  Traite  de  l’ Art  de  Bd- 
tir,  tome  iv.  4to,  1814  ; and  Krafft,  Traite  sur  l’ Art  de  la 
Charpenter,  part  ii.  folio,  1820. 

Sect.  III. — Os  Materials. 

Import-  45.  There  is  no  art  in  which  it  is  required  that  the  struc- 
am-e  of  theture  and  properties  of  wood  should  be  so  thoroughly  under- 
subject. stood  as  in  joinery.  The  practical  joiner,  who  has  made 
the  nature  of  timber  his  study,  has  always  a most  decided 
advantage  over  those  who  have  neglected  this  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  art. 

In  the  article  Anatomy,  Vegetable  (vol.  iii.  p.  61  and 
82),  the  structure  of  wood  is  described  ; in  this  place,  there- 
fore, we  shall  only  show  how  the  joiner  may,  in  a great 
measure,  avoid  the  warping  caused  by  its  irregular  tex- 
ture. 

Boards  cut  46.  It  is  well  known  that  wood  contracts  less  in  propor- 
in  a parti-  tion,  in  diameter,  than  it  does  in  circumference  ; hence  a 
tki^wili.60"  wh°le  tree  always  splits  in  drying.  Mr  Knight  has  shown 
not  retain  that,  in  consequence  of  this  irregular  contraction,  a board 
their  form,  may  be  cut  from  a tree  that  can  scarcely  be  made,  by  any 
means,  to  retain  the  same  form  and  position  when  subject- 
ed to  various  degrees  of  heat  and  moisture.  From  the  ash 
and  the  beech  he  cut  some  thin  boards,  in  different  direc- 
tions relatively  to  their  transverse  septa,  so  that  the  septa 
crossed  the  middle  of  some  of  the  boards  at  right  angles, 
and  lay  nearly  parallel  with  the  surfaces  of  others.  Both 
kinds  were  placed  in  a warm  room,  under  perfectly  similar 


135 

circumstances.  Those  which  had  been  formed  by  cutting  Joinery, 
across  the  transverse  septa,  as  at  A in  fig.  44,  soon  changed 
their  form  very  considerably,  the  one  side  becoming  hollow, 
and  the  other  round  ; and  in  drying,  they  contracted  nearly 
14  per  cent,  in  width. 

The  other  kind,  in  which  the  septa  were  nearly  parallel  Difference 
to  the  surfaces  of  the  boards,  as  at  B in  fig.  44,  retained, in  shrink- 
with  very  little  variation,  their  primary  form,  and  did  not  aSe- 
contract  in  drying  more  than  three  and  a half  per  cent,  in 
width. 1 

As  Mr  Knight  had  not  tried  resinous  woods,  two  speci- 
mens were  cut  from  a piece  of  Memel  timber  ; and,  to  ren- 
der the  result  of  our  observation  more  clear,  conceive  fig. 

45  to  represent  the  section  of  a tree,  the  annual  rings  beii  g 
shewn  by  circles.  BD  represents  the  Fig.  45. 
manner  in  which  one  of  our  pieces  was 
cut,  and  AC  the  other.  The  board  AC 
contracted  3-75  per  cent,  in  width,  and 
became  hollow  on  the  side  marked  b. 

The  board  BD  retained  its  original 
straightness,  and  contracted  only  0*7 
per  cent.  The  difference  in  the  quan- 
tity of  contraction  is  still  greater  than  in 
hard  woods. 

From  these  experiments,  the  advantages  to  be  obtained 
merely  by  a proper  attention  in  cutting  out  boards  for  pan- 
nels,  &c.  will  be  obvious ; and  it  will  also  be  found  that 
pannels  cut  so  that  the  septa  are  nearly  parallel  to  their 
faces,  will  appear  of  a finer  and  more  even  grain,  and  re- 
quire less  labour  to  make  their  surfaces  even  and  smooth. 

The  results  of  these  experiments  are  not  less  interesting 
to  cabinet-makers,  particularly  in  the  construction  of  bil- 
liard-tables, card-tables,  and  indeed  every  kind  of  table  in 
use.  For  such  purposes,  the  planks  should  be  cut  so  as  to 
cross  the  rings  as  nearly  in  the  direction  BD  as  possible. 

We  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  knowledge  of  this  property 
of  wood  that  renders  the  billiard-tables  of  some  makers  so 
far  superior  to  those  of  others. 

In  wood  that  has  the  larger  transverse  septa,  as  the  oak, 
for  example,  boards  cut  as  BD  will  be  figured,  while  those 
cut  as  AC  will  be  plain. 

47*  There  is  another  kind  of  contraction  in  wood  whilst  Cause  of 
drying,  which  causes  it  to  become  curved  in  the  direction  pieces 
of  its  length.  In  the  long  styles  of  framing  we  have  often 
observed  it;  indeed,  on  this  account,  it  is  difficult  to  pre- t-on 0f tll 
vent  the  style  of  a door,  hung  with  centres,  from  curving,  len<uh. 
so  as  to  rub  against  the  jamb.  A very  satisfactory  reason 
for  this  kind  of  curving  has  been  given  by  Mr  Knight,2 
which  also  points  out  the  manner  of  cutting  out  wood,  so 
as  to  be  less  subject  to  this  defect,  which  it  is  most  desir- 
able to  avoid.  The  interior  layers  of  wood,  being  older, 
are  more  compact  and  solid  than  the  exterior  layers  of  the 
same  tree  ; consequently,  in  drying,  the  latter  contract 
more  in  length  than  the  former.  This  irregularity  of  con- 
traction causes  the  wood  to  curve  in  the  direction  of  its 
length,  and  it  may  be  avoided  by  cutting  the  wood  so  that 
the  parts  of  each  piece  shall  be  as  nearly  of  the  same  age 
as  possible. 

48.  Besides  the  contraction  which  takes  place  in  drying,  Changes 
wood  undergoes  a considerable  change  in  bulk  with  the  va-  produced 
nations  of  the  atmosphere.  In  straight-grained  woods  the  b.v  t'’e 
change  in  length  is  nearly  insensible;3  hence  they  are vvea  ier* 
sometimes  employed  for  pendulum  rods ; but  the  lateral 
dimensions  vary  so  much,  that  a wide  piece  of  wood  will 
serve  as  a rude  hygrometer.4  The  extent  of  variation  de- 


1 Philosophical  Transactions,  part  ii.  for  1817,  or  Philosophical  Magazine , vol.  1.  p.  437-  2 JIM. 

3 Mr  Ramsden  and  General  Roy  made  some  experiments  on  the  expansion  in  length.  See  Account  of  the  Trig.  Survey,  vol.i.  p.  4G 

end  49. 

4 See  Phil.  Trans.  Lowthorpe’s  Abridg.  vol.  ii.  p.  37. 


136 


JOINERY. 


Joinery,  creases  in  a few  seasons,  but  it  is  of  some  importance  to 

v—'  the  joiner  to  be  aware,  that  even  in  very  old  wood,  when 

the  surface  is  removed,  the  extent  of  variation  is  nearly 
the  same  as  in  new  wood. 

It  appears,  from  Rondelet’s  experiments,1  that  in  wood 
of  a mean  degree  of  dryness,  the  extent  of  contraction  and 
expansion,  produced  by  the  usual  changes  in  the  state  of 
the  atmosphere,  was, 

in  fir  wood,  from  -L  to  _L  part  of  its  width  ; 

360  75  1 

and  in  oak,  from— L to-L  part  of  its  width. 

412  84  1 


Consequently,  the  mean  extent  of  variation  in  fir  is 


and  in  oak,  — ; and  at  this  mean  rate,  in  a fir  board 
14<U 


about  12^  inches  wide,  the  difference  in  width  would  be 
Jpth  of  an  inch.  This  will  show  the  importance  of  attend- 
ing to  the  maxims  of  construction  we  have  already  laid  be- 
fore the  reader ; for,  if  a board  of  that  width  should  be 
fixed  at  both  edges,  it  must  unavoidably  split  from  one  end 
to  the  other. 

Kinds  of  49.  The  kinds  of  wood  commonly  employed  in  joinery 

wood.  are,  the  oak,  the  different  species  of  pine,  mahogany,  lime- 
tree,  and  poplar. 

Oak.  Of  the  oak,  there  are  two  species  common  in  this  island. 

That  which  Linnaeus  has  named  Quercus  Robur  is  the  most 
valuable  for  joiner’s  work  ; it  is  of  a finer  grain,  less  tough, 
and  not  so  subject  to  twist  as  the  other  kind.  Oak  is  also 
imported  from  the  Baltic  ports,  from  Germany,  and  from 
America.  These  foreign  kinds  being  free  from  knots,  of  a 
straighter  grain,  and  less  difficult  to  work,  they  are  used  in 
preference  to  our  home  species.  Foreign  oak  is  also  much 
used  for  cabinet-work  ; and  lately,  the  fine  curled  oak  that 
is  got  from  excrescences  produced  by  pollard,  and  other 


old  trees,  has  been  used  with  success  in  furniture.  When  Joinery, 
well  managed,  it  is  very  beautiful,  and  makes  a pleasing  'w 
variety.  It  is  relieved  by  inlaid  borders  of  black  or  white 
wood,  but  these  should  be  sparingly  used.  Borders  of  in- 
laid brass,  with  small  black  lines,  give  a rich  effect  to  the 
darker  coloured  kinds. 

The  greater  part  of  joiner’s  work  is  executed  in  yellow  Fir. 
fir,  imported  from  the  north  of  Europe.  White  fir  is  often 
used  for  internal  work,  and  American  pine  is  much  used 
for  mouldings. 

The  forest  of  Braemar,  in  Aberdeenshire,  furnishes  yel- 
low fir  of  an  excellent  quality,  little  inferior  to  the  best 
foreign  kinds. 

For  the  general  purposes  of  joinery,  the  wood  of  the  larch  Larch, 
tree  seems  to  be  the  best.  This  useful  tree  thrives  well  on 
our  native  hills.  We  have  seen  some  fine  specimens  of 
this  wood  from  Blair-Athol.  It  makes  excellent  steps  for 
stairs,  floors,  framing,  and  most  other  articles. 

Mahogany,  in  joinery,  is  only  used  where  painted  work  Mahogany, 
is  improper,  as  for  the  hand-rails  of  stairs,  or  for  the  doors 
and  windows  of  principal  rooms.  For  doors  it  is  not  now 
so  often  used  as  it  was  formerly;  its  colour  is  found  to  be 
too  gloomy  to  be  employed  in  large  masses.  In  cabinet- 
work it  is  almost  the  only  kind  used  for  ornamental  work. 

Lime-tree,  and  the  different  species  of  poplar,  make  very  Lime-tree 
good  floors  for  inferior  rooms,  and  may  often  be  used  for  poplar, 
other  purposes,  in  places  where  the  carriage  of  foreign  tim- 
ber would  render  it  more  expensive.  Lime-tree  is  valu- 
able for  carved  work,  and  does  not  worm-eat ; but  carving 
is  at  present  seldom  used  in  joinery. 

For  farther  information  on  wood,  in  addition  to  the  works 
referred  to,  the  reader  may  consult  Evelyn’s  Silva,  Dr 
Hunter’s  edition  ; Duhamel,  Liu  Transport,  de  la  Conser- 
vation, et  de  fa  Force  des  Bois,  Paris,  1767  ; Barlow’s  Es- 
say on  the  Strength  and  Stress  of  Timber,  1817 ; Tred- 
gold’s  Elementary  Principles  of  Carpentry , sect.  x.  1820  ; 
and  the  article  Dry-Rot.2 


' Traite  Thtoretique  et  Pratique  de  l' Art  de  Bdtir , article  MenuiseRIE,  tome  iv.  p.  425,  1 o 14. 

2 When  the  roof  of  Westminster  Hall  was  under  repair,  an  opportunity  was  taken  to  examine  the  wood  of  which  it  is  construct- 
ed ; and  it  was  found  to  be  of  oak,  and  not  of  chestnut,  as  stated  in  the  Article  Dry-Rot  ^ vol.  viii.  p.  233.  The  oak  has  been  of  an 
excellent  kind,  but  is  now  much  worm-eaten. 


CARPENTRY. 


We  must  begin  by  informing  our  readers,  that  the  bulk 
of  the  present  article  was  written  by  the  late  Professor 
Robison,  in  order  to  form,  with  those  on  Roof,  and 
Strength  of  Materials,  also  written  by  him  for  this 
Encyclopaedia,  a uniform  system  of  the  most  useful  depart- 
ments of  practical  mechanics,  deduced,  in  the  same  fami- 
liar and  elementary  manner,  from  the  simple  principles  of 
the  composition  of  forces.  In  here  reprinting  his  contri- 
bution, we  shall  premise  some  introductory  observations, 
which  may  be  considered  as  a retrospective  summary  of 
the  doctrine  of  Passive  Strength,  accompanied  by  some 
of  the  most  useful  propositions  respecting  the  resistance 
of  elastic  substances,  derived  from  the  principles  which 
have  been  already  laid  down  in  our  article  Bridge  ; and 
subjoining  a few  notes  on  such  passages  as  may  appear  to 
require  further  illustration  or  correction.  Some  of  the 
demonstrations  will  be  partly  borrowed  from  a work  which 
has  been  published  since  the  death  of  Professor  Robison, 
but  others  will  be  more  completely  original ; and  of  the 
remarks,  the  most  important  will  probably  be  those  which 
relate  to  the  form  and  direction  of  the  abutment  of  raft- 
ers ; a subject  which  seems  to  have  been  very  incorrectly 
treated  by  former  writers  on  Carpentry.1 

I. ABSTRACT  OF  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  PASSIVE  STRENGTH. 

The  effects  of  forces  of  different  kinds,  on  the  materials 
employed  in  the  mechanical  arts,  require  to  be  minutely 
examined  in  the  arrangement  of  every  work  dependent  on 
them ; and  of  these  effects,  as  exhibited  in  a solid  body  at 
rest,  we  may  distinguish  seven  different  varieties ; the  ex- 
tension of  a substance  acting  simply  as  a tie ; the  com- 
pression of  a block  supporting  a load  above  it ; the  detru- 
sion  of  an  axis  resting  on  a support  close  to  its  wheel,  and 
resisting  by  its  lateral  adhesion  only ; the  flexure  of  a 
body  bent  by  a force  applied  unequally  to  its  different 
parts  ; the  torsion  or  twisting,  arising  from  a partial  de- 
trusion  of  the  external  parts  in  opposite  directions,  while 
the  axis  retains  its  place ; the  alteration  or  permanent 
change  of  a body  which  settles,  so  as  to  remain  in  a new 
form,  when  the  force  is  withdrawn ; and  lastly,  the  frac- 
ture, which  consists  in  a complete  separation  of  parts  be- 
fore united,  and  which  has  been  the  only  effect  particu- 


larly examined  by  the  generality  of  authors  on  the  strength 
of  materials. 

The  analogy  of  the  laws  of  extension  and  compression 
has  been  demonstrated  in  a former  article  (Bridge),  and 
their  connection  with  flexure  has  been  investigated ; 
but  it  is  not  easy  to  compare  them  directly  with  the  re- 
sistance opposed  to  a partial  detrusion,  the  effects  of 
which  are  only  so  far  understood  as  they  are  exhibited  in 
the  phenomena  of  twisting ; and  these  appear  to  justify  us 
in  considering  the  resistance  of  lateral  adhesion  as  a pri- 
mitive force,  deduced  from  the  rigidity  or  solidity  of  the 
substance,  and  proportional  to  the  deviation  from  the  na- 
tural situation  of  the  particles.  The  resistance  exhibited 
by  steel  wire,  when  twisted,  bears  a greater  proportion  to 
that  of  brass  than  the  resistance  to  extension  or  compres- 
sion, but  the  forces  agree  in  being  independent  of  the 
hardness  produced  by  tempering. 

Flexure  may  be  occasioned  either  by  a transverse  or  by 
a longitudinal  force.  When  the  force  is  transverse,  the  ex- 
tent of  the  flexure  is  nearly  proportional  to  its  magnitude ; 
but  when  it  is  longitudinal,  there  is  a certain  magnitude 
which  it  must  exceed  in  order  to  produce,  or  rather  to 
continue,  the  flexure,  if  the  force  be  applied  exactly  at 
the  axis.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  the  slightest  possible 
force  applied  at  a distance  from  the  axis,  however  minute, 
or  with  an  obliquity  however  small,  or  to  a beam  already 
a little  curved,  will  produce  a certain  degree  of  flexure  ; 
and  this  observation  will  serve  to  explain  some  of  the  dif- 
ficulties and  irregularities  which  have  occurred  in  making 
experiments  on  beams  that  are  exposed  to  longitudinal 
pressure. 

Stiffness,  or  the  power  of  resisting  flexure,  is  measured 
by  the  force  required  to  produce  a given  minute  change 
of  form.  For  beams  similarly  fixed,  it  is  directly  propor- 
tional to  the  breadth  and  the  cube  of  the  depth,  and  in- 
versely to  the  cube  of  the  length.  Thus  a beam  or  bar 
two  yards  long  will  be  equally  stiff  with  a beam  one  yard, 
provided  that  it  be  either  twice  as  deep  or  eight  times  as 
broad.  If  the  ends  of  a beam  can  be  firmly  fixed,  by  con- 
tinuing them  to  a sufficient  distance,  and  keeping  them 
down  by  a proper  pressure,  the  stiffness  will  be  four  times 
as  great  as  if  the  ends  were  simply  supported.  A hollow 
substance,  of  given  weight  and  length,  has  its  stiffness 


1 These  introductory  observations  to  Professor  Robison’s  article,  and  the  notes  subjoined  to  it,  were  written  by  the  late  Dr  Tho- 
mas Young. 


138  0 A R PENTR  Y. 


Carpentry. near]y  proportional  to  the  square  of  the  diameter;  and 
hence  arises  the  great  utility  of  tubes  when  stiffness  is 
required,  this  property  being  still  more  increased  by  the 
expansion  of  the  substance  than  the  ultimate  strength. 
It  is  obvious  that  there  are  a multiplicity  of  cases  in  car- 
pentry where  stiffness  is  of  more  importance  than  any 
other  property,  since  the  utility  as  well  as  beauty  of  the 
fabric  might  often  be  destroyed  by  too  great  a flexibility 
of  the  materials. 

If  we  wish  to  find  how  much  a beam  of  fir  will  sink  when 
it  is  loaded  in  the  middle,  we  may  multiply  the  cube  of 
the  length  in  inches  by  the  given  weight  in  pounds,  and 
divide  by  the  cube  of  the  depth,  and  by  ten  million  times 
the  breadth ; but,  on  account  of  the  unequal  texture  of 
the  wood,  we  must  expect  to  find  the  bending  somewhat 
greater  than  this  in  practice,  besides  that  a large  weight 
will  often  produce  an  alteration,  or  permanent  settling, 
which  will  be  added  to  it:  a beam  of  oak  will  also  sink  a 
little  more  than  a beam  of  fir  with  the  same  weight. 

With  respect  to  torsion,  the  stiffness  of  a cylindrical 
body  varies  directly  as  the  fourth  power  of  the  diameter, 
and  inversely  in  the  simple  proportion  of  the  length : it 
does  not  appear  to  be  changed  by  the  action  of  any  force 
tending  to  lengthen  or  to  compress  the  cylinder ; and  it 
may  very  possibly  bear  some  simple  relation  to  the  force 
of  cohesion,  which  has  not  yet  been  fully  ascertained ; 
but  it  appears  that,  in  an  experiment  of  Mr  Cavendish, 
the  resistance  of  a cylinder  of  copper  to  a twisting  force, 
acting  at  its  surface,  was  about  of  the  resistance  that 
the  same  cylinder  would  have  opposed  to  direct  extension 
or  compression. 

Alteration  is  often  an  intermediate  step  between  a tem- 
porary change  and  a complete  fracture.  There  are  many 
substances  which,  after  bending  to  a certain  extent,  are 
no  longer  capable  of  resuming  their  original  form  ; and  in 
such  cases  it  generally  happens  that  the  alteration  may 
be  increased  without  limit,  until  complete  fracture  takes 
place,  by  the  continued  operation  of  the  same  force  which 
has  begun  it,  or  by  a force  a little  greater.  Those  Substan- 
ces which  are  the  most  capable  of  this  change  are  called  duc- 
tile ; and  the  most  remarkable  are  gold,  and  a spider’s  web. 
When  a substance  has  undergone  an  alteration  by  means 
of  its  ductility,  its  stiffness,  in  resisting  small  changes  on 
either  side,  remains  little  or  not  at  all  altered.  Thus,  if  the 
stiffness  of  a spider’s  web,  in  resisting  torsion,  were  suffi- 
cient at  the  commencement  of  an  experiment  to  cause  it 
to  recover  itself,  after  being  twisted  in  an  angle  of  ten  de- 
grees, it  would  return  ten  degrees,  and  not  more,  after  hav- 
ing been  twisted  round  a thousand  times.  The  ductility  of 
all  substances  capable  of  being  annealed  is  greatly  modi- 
fied by  the  effects  of  heat.  Hard  steel,  for  example,  is  in- 
comparably less  subject  to  alteration  than  soft,  although 
in  some  cases  more  liable  to  fracture ; so  that  the  degree 
of  hardness  requires  to  be  proportioned  to  the  uses  for 
which  each  instrument  is  intended  ; although  it  was  prov- 
ed by  Coulomb,  and  has  since  been  confirmed  by  other 
observers,  that  the  primitive  stiffness  of  steel,  in  resisting 
small  flexures,  is  neither  increased  nor  diminished  by  any 
variation  in  its  temper. 

The  strength  of  a body  is  measured  by  the  force  re- 
quired completely  to  overcome  the  corpuscular  powers 
concerned  in  the  aggregation  of  its  particles,  and  it  is 
jointly  proportional  to  the  primitive  stiffness  and  to  the 
toughness  of  the  substance,  that  is,  to  the  degree  in 
which  it  is  capable  of  a change  of  form  without  permanent 
alteration.  It  becomes,  however,  of  importance  in  some 
cases  to  consider  the  measure  of  another  kind  of  strength, 
which  has  sometimes  been  called  resilience,  or  the  power 
of  resisting  a body  in  motion,  and  which  is  proportional  to 
the  strength  and  the  toughness  conjointly,  that  is,  to  the 


stiffness  and  the  square  of  the  toughness.  Thus,  if  we  Carpentry, 
double  the  length  of  a given  beam,  we  reduce  its  abso- 
lute  strength  to  one  half,  and  its  stiffness  to  one  eighth  ; 
but  since  the  toughness,  or  the  space  through  which  it  will 
continue  to  resist,  is  quadrupled,  the  resilience  will  be 
doubled,  and  it  would  require  a double  weight  to  fall  from 
the  same  height,  or  the  same  weight  to  fall  from  a double 
height,  in  order  to  overcome  its  whole  resistance.  If 
we  wish  to  determine  the  resilience  of  a body  from  an 
experiment  on  its  strength,  we  must  measure  the  dis- 
tance through  which  it  recedes  or  is  bent  previously  to 
its  fracture;  and  it  may  be  shown  that  a weight  which 
is  capable  of  breaking  it  by  pressure,  would  also  break  it 
by  impulse  if  it  moved  with  the  velocity  acquired  by  fall- 
ing from  a height  equal  to  half  the  deflection.  Thus,  if  a 
beam  or  bar  were  broken  by  a weight  of  100  pounds,  after 
being  bent  six  inches  without  alteration,  it  would  also  be 
broken  by  a weight  of  100  pounds  falling  from  a height  of 
three  inches,  or  moving  in  a horizontal  direction  with  a 
velocity  of  four  feet  in  a second,  or  by  a weight  of  one 
pound  falling  from  a height  of  300  inches.  This  substi- 
tution of  velocity  for  quantity  of  matter  has,  however,  one 
limit,  beyond  which  the  velocity  must  prevail  over  the 
resistance,  without  regard  to  the  quantity  of  matter ; and 
this  limit  is  derived  from  the  time  required  for  the  suc- 
cessive propagation  of  the  pressure  through  the  different 
parts  of  the  substance,  in  order  that  they  may  participate 
in  the  resistance.  Thus,  if  a weight  fell  on  the  end  of  a 
bar  or  column  with  a velocity  of  100  feet  in  a second,  and 
the  substance  could  only  be  compressed  of  its  length, 
without  being  crushed,  it  is  obvious  that  the  pressure 
must  be  propagated  through  the  substance  with  a velocity 
of  20,000  feet  in  a second,  in  order  that  it  might  resist  the 
stroke ; and,  in  general,  a substance  will  be  crushed  or 
penetrated  by  any  velocity  exceeding  that  which  is  ac- 
quired by  a body  falling  from  a height,  which  is  to  half 
that  of  the  modulus  of  elasticity  of  the  substance,  as  the 
square  of  the  greatest  possible  change  of  length  is  to  the 
whole  length.  From  the  consideration  of  the  effect  of 
rigidity  in  lessening  the  resilience  of  bodies,  we  may  un- 
derstand how  a diamond,  which  is  capable  of  resisting  an 
enormous  pressure,  may  be  crushed  with  a blow  of  a small 
hammer,  moving  with  a moderate  velocity.  It  is  remark- 
able that,  for  the  same  substance  in  different  forms,  the 
resilience  is  in  most  cases  simply  proportional  to  the  bulk 
or  weight,  while  almost  every  other  kind  of  resistance  is 
capable  of  infinite  variation  by  change  of  form  only. 

The  elaborate  investigations  of  M.  Lagrange,  respect- 
ing the  strength  and  the  strongest  forms  of  columns,  ap- 
pear to  have  been  conducted  upon  principles  not  altoge- 
ther unexceptionable ; but  it  is  much  easier  to  confute 
the  results  than  to  follow  the  steps  of  the  computations. 

One  great  error  is  the  supposition  that  columns  are  to  be 
considered  as  elastic  beams,  bent  by  a longitudinal  force  ; 
while,  in  reality,  a stone  column  is  never  slender  enough 
to  be  bent  by  a force  which  it  can  bear  without  being 
crushed  ; and  even  for  such  columns  as  are  capable  of  being 
bent  by  a longitudinal  force,  M.  Lagrange’s  determina- 
tions are  in  several  instances  inadmissible.  He  asserts,  for 
example,  that  a cylinder  is  the  strongest  of  all  possible 
forms,  and  that  a cone  is  stronger  than  any  conoid  of  the 
same  bulk;  but  it  appears  to  be  demonstrable  in  a very 
simple  manner,  and  upon  incontestable  principles,  that  a 
conoidal  form  may  be  determined,  which  shall  be  stronger 
than  either  a cone  or  a cylinder  of  the  same  bulk. 

When  a column  is  crushed,  its  resistance  to  compres- 
sion seems  to  depend  in  great  measure  on  the  force  of  la- 
teral adhesion,  assisted  bjr  a kind  of  internal  friction,  de- 
pendent on  the  magnitude  of  the  pressure ; and  it  com- 
monly gives  way  by  the  separation  of  a wedge  in  an 


CARFENTR  Y. 


139 


Carpentry,  oblique  direction.  If  the  adhesion  were  simply  propor- 
tional  to  the  section,  it  may  be  shown  that  a square 
column  would  be  most  easily  crushed  when  the  angle  of 
the  wedge  is  equal  to  half  of  a right  angle  ; but  if  the  ad- 
hesion is  increased  by  pressure,  this  angle  will  be  dimi- 
nished by  half  the  angle  of  repose  appropriate  to  the  sub- 
stance. In  a wedge  separated  by  a direct  force  from  a 
prism  of  cast  iron,  the  angle  was  found  equal  to  321°, 
consequently  the  angle  of  repose  was  2 X 12^°  = 25°,  and 
the  internal  friction  to  the  pressure  as  1 to  '466,  the  tan- 
gent of  this  angle;  there  was,  however,  a little  bubble  in 
the  course  of  the  fracture,  which  may  have  changed  its 
direction  in  a slight  degree.  The  magnitude  of  the  late- 
ral adhesion  is  measured  by  twice  the  height  of  the  wedge, 
whatever  its  angle  may  be.  In  this  instance  the  height  was 
to  the  depth  as  T57  to  I,  consequently  the  surface,  afford- 
ing an  adhesion  equal  to  the  force,  was  somewhat  more 
than  three  times  as  great  as  the  transverse  section,  and 
the  lateral  adhesion  of  a square  inch  of  cast  iron  would  be 
equal  to  about  46,000  pounds ; the  direct  cohesive  force 
of  the  same  iron  was  found  by  experiment  equal  to  about 
20,000  pounds  for  a square  inch.  It  is  obvious  that  expe- 
riments on  the  strength  of  a substance  in  resisting  com- 
pression ought  to  be  tried  on  pieces  rather  longer  than 
cubes,  since  a cube  would  not  allow  of  the  free  separation 
of  a single  wedge  so  acute  as  was  observed  in  this  expe- 
riment ; although,  indeed,  the  force  required  to  separate 
a shorter  wedge  on  each  side  would  be  little  or  no  great- 
er than  for  a single  wedge.  The  same  consideration  of 
the  oblique  direction  of  the  plane  of  easiest  fracture  would 
induce  us  to  make  the  outline  of  a column  a little  convex 
externally,  as  the  common  practice  has  been ; for  a circle 
cut  out  of  a plank  possesses  the  advantage  of  resisting 
equally  in  eveiy  section,  and  consequently  of  exhibiting 
the  strongest  form,  when  there  is  no  lateral  adhesion ; 
and  in  the  case  of  an  additional  resistance  proportional  to 
the  pressure,  the  strongest  form  is  afforded  by  an  oval 
consisting  of  two  circular  segments,  each  containing  twice 
the  angle  formed  by  the  plane  of  fracture  with  the  hori- 
zon. If  we  wish  to  obtain  a direct  measure  of  the  lateral 
adhesion,  we  must  take  care  to  apply  the  forces  concerned 
at  a distance  from  each  other  not  greater  than  one  sixth  of 
the  depth  of  the  substance,  otherwise  the  fracture  will 
probably  be  rather  the  consequence  of  flexure  than  of  de- 
trusion.  Professor  Robison  found  this  force  in  some  in- 
stances twice  as  great  as  the  direct  cohesion,  or  nearly  in 
the  same  proportion  as  it  appears  to  have  been  in  the  ex- 
periment on  the  strength  of  cast  iron  ; Mr  Coulomb  thinks 
it  most  commonly  equal  only  to  the  cohesion;  and  in 
fibrous  substances,  especially  where  the  fibres  are  not  per- 
fectly straight,  the  repulsive  strength  is  generally  much 
less  than  would  be  inferred  from  this  equality,  and  some- 
times even  less  than  the  cohesive  strength. 

, It  is  well  known  that  the  transverse  strength  of  a beam 
is  directly  as  the  breadth  and  as  the  square  of  the  depth, 

, and  inversely  as  the  length  ; and  the  variation  of  the  re- 
sults of  some  experiments  from  this  law  can  only  have  de- 
pended on  accidental  circumstances.  If  we  wish  to  find 
the  number  of  hundredweights  that  will  break  a beam  of 
oak  supported  at  both  ends,  supposing  them  to  be  placed 
exactly  on  the  middle,  we  may  multiply  the  square  of  the 
depth  in  inches  by  100  times  the  breadth,  and  divide  by 
the  length ; and  we  may  venture  in  practice  to  load  a 
beam  with  at  least  an  eighth  as  much  as  this,  or,  in  case  of 
necessity,  even  a fourth.  And  if  the  load  be  distributed 
equally  throughout  the  length  of  the  beam,  it  will  support 
twice  as  much  ; but  for  a beam  of  fir  the  strength  is  some- 
what less  than  for  oak.  A cylinder  will  bear  the  same 
curvature  as  the  circumscribing  prism,  and  it  may  be 
shown  that  its  strength,  as  well  as  its  stiffness,  is  to  that 


of  the  prism  as  one  fourth  of  its  bulk  is  to  one  third  of  the  Carpentry, 
bulk  of  the  prism.  The  strength  of  a beam  supported  at  ■ ' 

its  extremities  may  be  doubled  by  firmly  fixing  the  ends 
where  it  is  practicable ; and  we  have  already  seen  that 
the  stiffness  is  quadrupled  : but  the  resilience  remains 
unaltered,  since  the  resistance  is  doubled,  and  the  space 
through  which  it  acts  is  reduced  to  a half.  It  is  there- 
fore obviously  of  importance  to  consider  the  nature  of  the 
resistance  that  is  required  from  the  fabric  which  we  are 
constructing.  A floor,  considered  alone,  requires  to  be 
strong ; but  in  connection  with  a ceiling,  its  stiffness  re- 
quires more  particular  attention,  in  order  that  the  ceiling 
may  remain  free  from  cracks.  A coach-spring  requires 
resilience  for  resisting  the  relative  motions  of  the  carriage, 
and  we  obtain  this  kind  of  strength  as  effectually  by  com- 
bining a number  of  separate  plates,  as  if  we  united  them 
into  a single  mass,  while  we  avoid  the  stiffness,  which 
would  render  the  changes  of  motion  inconveniently  abrupt. 

In  all  calculations  respecting  stiffness,  it  is  necessary  to 
be  acquainted  with  the  modulus  of  elasticity,  which  may 
be  found  for  a variety  of  substances  in  the  annexed  table. 

Height  of  the  Modulus  of  Elasticity  in  Thousands  of  Feet. 


Iron  and  steel 

10,000 

Fir  wood 

10,000 

Copper.. 

....  5,700 

Elm 

8,000 

Brass 

....  5,000 

Beech  

8,000 

Silver 

....  3,240 

Oak........ 

5,060 

Tin 

....  2,250 

Box 

5,050 

Crown  glass 

....  9,800 

Ice 

850 

II. PROPOSITIONS  RELATING  TO  FLEXURE. 

A.  The  stiffness  of  a cylinder  is  to  that  of  its  circum- 
scribing rectangular  prism , as  three  times  the  bulk  of  the  cy 
Under  is  to  four  times  that  of  the  prism. 

We  may  consider  the  different  strata  of  the  substance 
as  acting  on  levers  equal  in  length  to  the  distance  of  each 
from  the  axis ; for  although  there  is  no  fixed  fulcrum  at 
the  axis,  yet  the  whole  force  is  the  same  as  if  such  a ful- 
crum existed,  since  the  opposite  actions  of  the  opposite 
parts  would  relieve  the  fulcrum  from  all  pressure.  Then 
the  tension  of  each  stratum  being  also  as  the  same  dis- 
tance x,  and  the  breadth  of  the  stratum  being  called  2 y, 
the  fluxion  of  the  force  on  either  side  of  the  axis  will  be 
g x2ydx , while  that  of  the  force  of  the  prism,  the  radius 
being  r,  is  2rx2dx.  Now  z being  the  area  of  half  the  por- 
tion included  between  the  stratum  and  the  axis,  of  which 

the  fluxion  is  ydx,  the  fluxion  of  z — — will  be 
J rr 

y’k/x  ?>y2xdy 


yclx 


■ Udx  (1  — tj)  — -^sr-  y(hJ- 


But  1 


r 

r2 


— —5-5  and 
r* 


ydy  — xdx. 


therefore  the  fluxion  is 

a2ydx  3 cdydx  4 x2ydx 

-fT  + ’ ~ ^ ; 

consequently  the  fluent  of  2 x-ydx  is  \Fz — v,  which, 
when  y — 0,  becomes  \Fz,  or  one  fourth  of  the  product 
of  the  square  of  the  radius  by  the  area  of  the  section, 
while  the  fluent  of  2 rx2dx,  that  is,  | -rx2,  the  force  of  the 
prism,  becomes  § r4  or  ^ r2  X 2 r2,  one  third  of  the  pro- 
duct of  the  same  square  into  the  area  of  the  section  of 
the  prism. 

lienee  the  radius  of  curvature  of  a cylindrical  column, 

, „ M aa , . T,  , M aa  , 

instead  of  ■ . (Art.  Bridge,  Jrrop.  (jr),  will  be  77-71  the 

12  fyy  . / R>/y 

weight  of  the  modulus  M decreasing  in  the  same  propor 


140 


CARPENTR  Y. 


Carpentry,  tion  as  the  bulk  when  the  prism  is  reduced  to  a cylinder. 

The  force  is  supposed  in  this  proposition  to  be  either 
transverse  or  applied  at  a considerable  distance  from  the 
axis;  but  the  error  will  not  be  material  in  any  other  case. 

B.  When  a longitudinal  force  f is  applied  to  the  extremi- 
ties of  a straight  prismatic  beam,  at  the  distance  b from 
the  axis,  the  deflection  of  the  middle  of  the  beam  will  be 

b ^secant  W(ff)  • ~]  — 1^  ; M being  the  weight  of  the 

modulus,  e the  length  of  the  beam,  and  a its  depth. 

The  curvature  being  proportional  to  the  distance  from 
the  line  of  direction  of  the  force,  or  to  the  ordinate,  when 
that  line  is  considered  as  the  absciss,  the  elastic  curve 
must  in  this  case  initially  coincide  with  a portion  of  the 
harmonic  curve,  well  known  for  its  utility  in  the  resolu- 
tion of  a variety  of  problems  of  this  kind.  Now  if  the 
half  length  of  the  complete  curve  be  called  h,  correspond- 
ing to  a quadrant  of  the  generating  circle,  and  the  great- 
est ordinate  y,  c being  the  quadrant  of  a circle  of  which 
the  radius  is  unity,  the  radius  of  curvature  r correspond- 
hk 

ing  to  y will  be  — — , that  is,  a third  proportional  to  y and 

— the  radius  of  the  generating  circle ; consequently 

kk  , , Maacc  , , , , M , , , 

= , kk  — , - - . , and  k — a »/-;  ac  ; but  by  the  na- 

ccy  12  J - 3/ 


ture  of  the  curve,  y : b = 1 : cos. 


2k 


'J 


at  the  middle ; and  the  deflection  from  the  natural  situa- 
tion is  y — b. 

It  follows  that,  since  the  secant  of  the  quadrant  is  infi- 


nite, when 


¥ 

M ' 


— becomes  equal  to  c,  the  deflection  will 
a 


be  infinite,  and  the  resistance  of  the  column  will  be  over- 
come, however  small  the  distance  b may  be  taken,  provid- 
ed that  it  be  of  finite  magnitude;  and  since  in  this  case 


3fee  _ . _ 

Maa  ~ 


M aacc 
3ee 


= ‘8225  M — , which  is  the  utmost 

ee 


comes  d — at 


monic  curve  ; and  supposing  the  quadrantal  length  ofCarpentr 
this  curve  k,  we  have  again,  as  in  the  last  proposition,  '—■'n-"- 

h — \ ^ — .ac,  or,  for  a cylinder,  k = V . ac.  Now, 

6J  J 

the  tangent  of  the  inclination  of  the  harmonic  curve  varies 
as  the  sine  of  the  angular  distance  from  the  middle  ; con- 
sequently, as  sin.  • c>  or  cos.  -p  is  to  the  radius,  so 

is  the  tangent  t,  expressing  the  difference  of  inclination 
of  the  end  of  the  beam  and  the  direction  of  the  force,  which 
is  also  that  of  the  middle  of  the  supposed  curve,  to  the 
tangent  of  the  extreme  inclination  of  the  curve  to  its  ab- 

. . . 6C 

sciss,  which  will  therefore  be  t sec.  -r- ; consequently  the 

ft 

greatest  ordinate  will  be  — sec.  and  since  the  ordi- 
c k 

nates  are  as  the  sines  of  the  angular  distances  from  the 
origin  of  the  curve,  the  ordinate  at  the  fixed  end  of  the 

€C 

beam,  corresponding  to  the  angle  — , that  is,  the  deflec- 

ft 


lit  PC  PC 

tion,  will  be  — sec.  — . sin.— 
c k k 


kt  ec  , ,M 

TANG.  — /f-^-at 


c A 2 3 f 

2e  3 f . M \e 

tang.  — or,  for  a cylinder,  ^ V~  • at  tang.  — - 


a 


— sec.  — r : 1,  and 
2k 


— b sec.  — b sec.  • -»  which  is  the  ordinate 
2k  v iVl  a 


f 


a 


force  that  the  column  will  bear  : and  for  a cylinder  we  find, 

by  the  same  reasoning,  f — — -6169  M — . If  b 

be  supposed  to  vanish,  we  shall  have  in  theory  an  equili- 
brium without  flexure ; but  since  it  will  be  tottering,  it 
cannot  exist  in  nature. 

By  applying  this  determination  to  the  strength  of  wood 
and  iron,  compared  with  the  modulus  of  elasticity,  it  ap- 
pears that  a round  column  or  a square  pillar  of  either  of 
these  substances  cannot  be  bent  by  any  longitudinal  force 
applied  to  the  axis,  which  it  can  withstand  without  being 
crushed,  unless  its  length  be  greater  than  twelve  or  thir- 
teen times  its  thickness  respectively ; nor  a column  or  pil- 
lar of  stone,  unless  it  be  forty  or  forty-five  times  as  long 
as  it  is  thick.  Hence  we  may  infer,  as  a practical  rule, 
that  every  piece  of  timber  or  iron  intended  to  withstand 
any  considerable  compressing  force,  should  be  at  least  as 
many  inches  in  thickness  as  it  is  feet  in  length,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  loss  of  force  which  necessarily  arises  from 
curvature. 

C.  When  a beam,  fixed  at  one  end,  is  pressed  by  a force 
in  a direction  deviating  from  the  original  position  of  the  axis 
in  a small  angle,  of  which  the  tangent  is  t,  the  deflection  be- 
M / 12 f e\ 

-nrIABOYM -■-»)■ 

The  inclination  of  the  curve  to  the  absciss  being  incon- 
siderable, it  will  not  differ  sensibly  from  a portion  of  a har- 


By  means  of  this  proposition  we  may  determine  the  ef- 
fect of  a small  lateral  force  in  weakening  a beam  or  pillar 
which  is  at  the  same  time  compressed  longitudinally  by  a 
much  greater  force,  considering  the  parts  on  each  side  of 
the  point  to  which  the  lateral  force  is  applied,  as  portions 
of  two  beams,  bent  in  the  manner  here  described,  by  a 
single  force  slightly  inclined  to  the  axis. 

D.  A bar  fixed  at  one  end,  and  bent  by  a transverse  force 
applied  to  the  other  end,  assumes  initially  the  form  of  a cu- 

4<?y 

bic  parabola,  and  the  deflection  at  the  end  is  d — 

The  ordinate  of  a cubic  parabola  varying  as  x?,  its  se- 
cond fluxion  varies  as  6x  ( dx )2,  or  since  the  first  fluxion 
of  the  absciss  is  constant,  simply  as  the  absciss  x,  mea- 
sured from  the  vertex  of  the  parabola,  which  must  there- 
fore be  situated  at  the  end  to  which  the  force  is  applied, 
and  the  absciss  must  coincide  with  the  tangent  of  the  bar. 
But  if  we  begin  from  the  other  end,  we  must  substitute 
e — x for  x,  and  the  second  fluxion  of  the  ordinate  will  be 
as  6 (e — x)  (dx)2,  the  first  as  6 exdx — 3 x?dx,  and  the  flu- 
ent as  3ex2 — x 3,  which,  when  x = e,  becomes  2&,  while  it 
would  have  been  3c3  if  the  curvature  had  been  uniform, 
and  the  second  fluxion  had  been  everywhere  6e(dx)2.  Now 

the  radius  of  curvature  at  the  fixed  end  being  r — 

l2eS 

and  the  versed  sine  of  a small  portion  of  a circle  being 

66  . 

equal  to  — , this  versed  sine  will  be  expressed  by^j^  ; 
4e¥ 

and  two  thirds  of  this,  or . r -,  will  be  the  actual  deflection, 
Maa 

E.  The  depression  of  a bar,  fixed  horizontally  atone  end, 

3g4 

and  supporting  only  its  own  weight,  is  d — 2maa  ’ 

the  height  of  the  modulus  of  elasticity. 

The  curvature  here  varies  as  the  square  of  the  distance 
from  the  end,  because  the  strain  is  proportional  to  the 
weight  of  the  portion  of  the  bar  beyond  any  given  point, 
and  to  the  distance  of  its  centre  of  gravity  conjointly, 
that  is,  to  (e—x)  £ (e—x),  so  that  if  the  second  fluxion 


CAKPENTR  Y. 


141 


Carpentry,  at  the  fixed  end  be  as  e?(dx)2,  it  will  elsewhere  be  as 
( e — x)2(dx)2;  and  the  corresponding  first  fluxions  being 
e2xdx  and  fxdx — ex2dx  -f-  \ x?dx,  the  fluents  will  be 
| e?x?,  and  <?x? — \ ex?  -|-  jfx4,  or,  when  x = e,  e4,  and 
( \ — i + ff)e?  zr  ^ e4;  consequently  the  depression  must 
be  half  the  versed  sine  in  the  circle  of  greatest  curva- 
ture. Now  the  radius  of  curvature  becomes  here 

12fd 

— the  force  being  applied  at  the  distance  he;  and 
6ef 

since  the  weight  of  the  bar  is  to  that  of  the  modulus  of 
elasticity  in  the  proportion  of  the  respective  lengths,  we 

, f e . maa  . . , . „ , 

have  ~r  = — , and  r — — - — , and  the  versed  sine  tor  the 

M m 6ee 


Maa 


ordinate  e will  be 


3e4 


half  of  which  is  the  actual  de- 


pression. 

F.  The  depression  of  the  middle  of  a horizontal  bar,  fixed 
at  both  ends,  and  supporting  its  own  iveight  only,  is  d — 
5e4 

32  maa' 

The  transverse  force  at  each  point  of  such  a bar,  re- 
sisted by  the  lateral  adhesion,  is  as  the  distance  x from 
the  middle  (Art.  Bridge,  under  Prop.  L) ; but  this  force 
is  proportional  to  the  first  fluxion  of  the  strain  or  curva- 
ture, consequently  the  curvature  itself  must  vary  as  the 
corrected  fluent  of  r ±zxdx,  taking  here  the  negative  sign, 
because  the  curvature  diminishes  as  x increases ; and  the 
corrected  fluent  will  be  ^e2  — x2,  since  it  must  vanish 
when  x=^e;  the  first  fluxion  of  the  ordinate  will  then 
be  \&xdx  — ^ x?dx , and  the  fluent  £e2x2 — x4,  or  for 

the  whole  length  e 4,  instead  of  or  yjjg,  which 

would  have  been  its  value  if  the  curvature  had  been  equal 
throughout.  Now  the  strain  at  the  middle  is  the  differ- 
ence of  the  opposite  strains  produced  by  the  forces  act- 
ing on  either  side ; and  these  are  the  half  weight  acting 
at  the  mean  distance  £ e,  and  the  resistance  of  the  support, 
which  is  equal  to  the  same  half  weight,  but  acts  at  the 
distance  ^e,  the  difference  being  equivalent  to  the  half 
weight,  acting  at  the  distance  \e,  so  that  the  curvature  at 
the  middle  is  the  same  as  if  the  bar  were  fixed  there,  and 
loose  at  the  ends ; that  is,  as  in  the  last  proposition,  sub- 

^TYICLCL 

stituting  \ e for  e,  — ; and  the  versed  sine  at  the 


See 


e? 


Se? 


5c4 


4 of  this  will  be  s . 

S'imaa 


distance  A e being  — , or 

* ° 8 r lb maa 

This  demonstration  may  serve  as  an  illustration  of  two 
modes  of  considering  the  effect  of  a strain,  which  have  not 
been  generally  known,  and  which  are  capable  of  a very 
extensive  application. 

It  follows  that  where  a bar  is  equally  loaded  through- 
out its  length,  the  curvature  at  the  middle  is  half  as  great 
as  if  the  whole  weight  were  collected  there,  the  strain  de- 
rived from  the  resistance  of  the  support  remaining  in  that 
case  uncompensated.  The  depression  produced  by  the 
divided  weight  will  be  f as  great  as  by  the  single  weight, 
since  X £ is  to  as  5 to  8.  M.  Dupin  found  the  propo- 
sition, by  many  experiments,  between  § and  g-;  and  | is  a 
very  good  mean  for  representing  these  results. 


III. ELEMENTS  OF  CARPENTRY. 


Definition.  “ Carpentry  is  the  art  of  framing  timber  for  the  pur- 
poses of  architecture,  machinery,  and,  in  general,  for  all 
considerable  structures.” 

It  is  not  intended  in  this  article  to  give  a full  account 


of  carpentry  as  a mechanical  art,  or  to  describe  the  various  Carpentry, 
ways  of  executing  its  different  works,  suited  to  the  varie- 
ty  of  materials  employed,  the  processes  which  must  be 
followed  for  fashioning  and  framing  them  for  our  purposes, 
and  the  tools  which  must  be  used,  and  the  manner  in 
which  they  must  be  handled.  This  would  be  an  occupa- 
tion for  volumes,  and,  though  of  great  importance,  must 
be  entirely  omitted  here.  Our  only  aim  at  present  will  be 
to  deduce,  from  the  principles  and  laws  of  mechanics,  and 
the  knowledge  which  experience,  and  judicious  inferences 
from  it,  have  given  us  concerning  the  strength  of  timber, 
in  relation  to  the  strain  laid  on  it,  such  maxims  of  con- 
struction as  will  unite  economy  with  strength  and  efficacy. 

This  object  is  to  be  attained  by  a knowledge,  ls<,  of  the 
strength  of  our  materials,  and  of  the  absolute  strain  that  is 
to  be  laid  on  them ; 2 dig,  of  the  modifications  of  this  strain, 
by  the  place  and  direction  in  which  it  is  exerted,  and  the 
changes  that  can  be  made  by  a proper  disposition  of  the 
parts  of  our  structure  ; and,  3 dly,  having  disposed  every 
piece  in  such  a manner  as  to  derive  the  utmost  advantage 
from  its  relative  strength,  we  must  know  how  to  form  the 
joints  and  other  connections  in  such  a manner  as  to  secure 
the  advantages  derived  from  this  disposition. 

This  is  evidently  a branch  of  mechanical  science  which  An  import- 
makes  carpentry  a liberal  art,  constitutes  part  of  the  learn- ant  branch 
ing  of  the  Engineer,  and  distinguishes  him  from  the  °(  m,ech.a' 
workman.  Its  importance  in  all  times  and  states  of  civil  ence 
society  is  manifest  and  great.  In  the  present  condition  of 
these  kingdoms,  raised  by  the  active  ingenuity  and  en- 
ergy of  our  countrymen  to  a pitch  of  prosperity  and  in- 
fluence unequalled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  a condition 
which  consists  chiefly  in  the  superiority  of  our  manufac- 
tures, attained  by  prodigious  multiplication  of  engines  of 
every  description,  and  for  every  species  of  labour,  the 
Science  (so  to  term  it)  of  carpentry  is  of  immense  conse- 
quence. We  regret  therefore  exceedingly  that  none  of 
our  celebrated  artists  have  done  honour  to  themselves  and 
their  country,  by  digesting  into  a body  of  consecutive  doc- 
trines the  results  of  their  experience,  so  as  to  form  a sys- 
tem from  which  their  pupils  might  derive  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  their  education.  The  many  volumes  called  Com- 
plete Instructors,  Manuals,  &c.  take  a much  humbler 
flight,  and  content  themselves  writh  instructing  the  mere 
workman  ; or  sometimes  give  the  master  builder  a few  ap- 
proved forms  of  roofs  and  other  framings,  with  the  rules 
for  drawing  them  on  paper,  and  from  thence  forming  the 
working  draughts  which  must  guide  the  saw  and  the  chisel 
of  the  workman.  Hardly  any  of  them  offer  any  thing  that  can 
be  called  a principle,  applicable  to  many  particular  cases, 
with  the  rules  for  this  adaptation.  We  are  indebted  for  principally 
the  greatest  part  of  our  knowledge  of  this  subject  to  the  indebted  to 
labours  of  literary  men,  chiefly  foreigners,  who  have  pub-  foreigners 
lished  in  the  memoirs  of  the  learned  academies  disserta-  j°1j a 
tions  on  different  parts  of  what  may  be  termed  the  Science  t 
of  Carpentry.  It  is  singular  that  the  members  of  theject, 

Royal  Society  of  London,  and  even  of  that  established 
and  supported  for  the  encouragement  of  the  arts,  have  con- 
tributed so  little  to  the  public  instruction  in  this  respect. 

We  have  observed  some  beginnings  of  this  kind,  such  as  the 
last  part  of  Nicholson’s  Carpenter  s and  Joiner s Assistant-, 
and  it  is  with  pleasure  we  can  say,  that  we  were  told  by 
the  editor  this  work  was  prompted  in  a great  measure  by 
what  has  been  delivered  in  our  articles  Roof  and  Strength 
of  Materials.  It  abounds  more  in  important  and  new 
observations  than  any  book  of  the  kind  that  we  are  ac- 
quainted with.  We  again  call  on  such  as  have  given  a 
scientific  attention  to  this  subject,  and  pray  that  they  would 
render  a meritorious  service  to  their  country  by  imparting 
the  result  of  their  researches.  The  very  limited  nature 
of  this  w'ork  does  not  allow  us  to  treat  the  subject  in  de- 


142  C A R P E N T u Y. 


Carpentry,  tail ; and  we  must  confine  our  observations  to  the  funda- 
mental  and  leading  propositions. 

Theory  The  theory,  so  to  term  it,  of  carpentry  is  founded  on 
founded  on  two  distinct  portions  of  mechanical  science,  namely,  a 
wliat'  knowledge  of  the  strains  to  which  framings  of  timber  are 
exposed,  and  a knowledge  of  their  relative  strength. 

We  shall  therefore  attempt  to  bring  into  one  point  of 
view  the  propositions  of  mechanical  science  that  are  more 
immediately  applicable  to  the  art  of  carpentry,  and  are  to 
be  found  in  various  articles  of  our  work,  particularly  Roof 
and  Strength  of  Materials.  From  these  propositions 
we  hope  to  deduce  such  principles  as  shall  enable  an  at- 
tentive reader  to  comprehend  distinctly  what  is  to  be 
aimed  at  in  framing  timber,  and  how  to  attain  this  object 
with  certainty  ; and  we  shall  illustrate  and  confirm  our 
principles  by  examples  of  pieces  of  carpentry  which  are 
acknowledged  to  be  excellent  in  their  kind. 

Composi-  The  most  important  proposition  of  general  mechanics 
tion  and  to  the  carpenter  is  that  which  exhibits  the  composition 
resolution  and  resolution  of  forces  ; and  we  beg  our  practical  read- 
ot  foices.  ers  t0  endeavour  to  form  very  distinct  conceptions  of  it, 
and  to  make  it  very  familiar  to  their  minds.  When  ac- 
commodated to  their  chief  purposes,  it  may  be  thus  ex- 
pressed : 

1.  If  a body,  or  any  part  of  a body,  be  at  once  pressed 
in  the  two  directions  AB,  AC  (fig.  1,  Plate  CXLVIL), 
and  if  the  intensity  or  force  of  those  pressures  be  in  the 
proportion  of  these  two  lines,  the  body  is  affected  in  the 
same  manner  as  if  it  were  pressed  by  a single  force  acting 
in  the  direction  AD,  which  is  the  diagonal  of  the  paralle- 
logram ABDC  formed  by  the  two  lines,  and  whose  inten- 
sity has  the  same  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  each  of 
the  other  two  that  AD  has  to  AB  or  AC. 

Such  of  our  readers  as  have  studied  the  laws  of  motion, 
know  that  this  is  fully  demonstrated.  Such  as  wish  for  a 
very  accurate  view  of  this  proposition  will  do  well  to  read 
the  demonstration  given  by  D.  Bernoulli,  in  the  first  vo- 
lume of  the  Comment.  Petropol.,  and  the  improvement  of 
this  demonstration  by  D’Alembert  in  his  Opuscules  and  in 
the  Comment.  Taurinens.  The  practitioner  in  carpentry 
will  get  more  useful  confidence  in  the  doctrine,  if  he  will 
shut  his  book,  and  verify  the  theoretical  demonstrations 
Illustrated  by  actual  experiments.  They  are  remarkably  easy  and 
by  experi-  convincing.  Therefore  it  is  our  request  that  the  artist, 
who  is  not  so  habitually  acquainted  with  the  subject,  do 
not  proceed  further  till  he  has  made  it  quite  familiar  to 
his  thoughts.  Nothing  is  so  conducive  to  this  as  the  ac- 
tual experiment;  and  since  this  only  requires  the  trifling 
expense  of  two  small  pulleys  and  a few  yards  of  whipcord, 
we  hope  that  none  of  our  practical  readers  will  omit  it : 
they  will  thank  us  for  this  injunction. 

2.  Let  the  threads  A d,  AF&,  and  AEc  (fig.  2),  have  the 
weights  d,  b,  and  c,  appended  to  them,  and  let  two  of  the 
threads  be  laid  over  the  pulleys  F and  E.  By  this  appa- 
ratus the  knot  A will  be  drawn  in  the  directions  AB,  AC, 
and  AK.  If  the  sum  of  the  weights  b and  c be  greater 
than  the  single  weight  d,  the  assemblage  will  of  itself 
settle  in  a certain  determined  form  : if  you  pull  the  knot 
A out  of  its  place,  it  will  always  return  to  it  again,  and 
will  rest  in  no  other  position.  For  example,  if  the  three 
weights  are  equal,  the  threads  will  always  make  equal 
angles,  of  120  degrees  each,  round  the  knot.  If  one  of 
the  weights  be  three  pounds,  another  four,  and  the  third 
five,  the  angle  opposite  to  the  thread  stretched  by  five 
pounds  will  always  be  square,  &c.  When  the  knot  A is 
thus  in  equilibrio,  we  must  infer  that  the  action  of  the 
weight  d,  in  the  direction  Ad,  is  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  combined  action  of  b in  the  direction  AB,  and  of  c in 
the  direction  AC.  Therefore,  if  we  produce  dA  to  any 
point  D,  and  take  AD  to  represent  the  magnitude  of  the 


force,  or  pressure  exerted  by  the  weight  d,  the  pressures  Carpentry, 
exerted  on  A by  the  weights  b and  c,  in  the  directions  AB,  'w— 

AC,  are  in  fact  equivalent  to  a pressure  acting  in  the  di- 
rection AD,  whose  intensity  we  have  represented  by  AD. 

If  we  now  measure  off  by  a scale  on  AF  and  AE  the 
lines  AB  and  AC,  having  the  same  proportions  to  AD 
that  the  weights  b and  c have  to  the  weight  d,  and  if  we 
draw  DB  and  DC,  we  shall  find  DC  to  be  equal  and  pa- 
rallel to  AB,  and  DB  equal  and  parallel  to  AC  ; so  that 
AD  is  the  diagonal  of  a parallelogram  ABDC.  We  shall 
find  this  always  to  be  the  case,  whatever  are  the  weights 
made  use  of;  only  we  must  take  care  that  the  weight 
which  we  cause  to  act  without  the  intervention  of  a pulley 
be  less  than  the  sum  of  the  other  two ; if  any  one  of  the 
weights  exceeds  the  sum  of  the  other  two,  it  will  prevail, 
and  drag  them  along  with  it. 

Now  since  we  know  that  the  weight  d would  just  ba- 
lance an  equal  weight  g,  pulling  directly  upwards  by  the 
intervention  of  the  pulley  G ; and  since  we  see  that  it 
just  balances  the  weights  b and  c,  acting  in  the  directions 
AB,  AC  ; we  must  infer  that  the  knot  A is  affected  in  the 
same  manner  by  those  two  weights,  or  by  the  single  weight 
g ; and  therefore  that  two  pressures,  acting  in  the.  directions 
and  with  the  intensities  AB,  AC,  are  equivalent  to  a single 
pressure  having  the  direction  and  proportion  of  AD.  In 
like  manner,  the  pressures  AB,  AK,  are  equivalent  to 
ATI,  which  is  equal  and  opposite  to  AC.  Also  AK  and 
AC  are  equivalent  to  AI,  which  is  equal  and  opposite  to 
AB. 

We  shall  consider  this  combination  of  pressures  a little 
more  particularly. 

Suppose  an  upright  beam  BA  (fig.  3),  pushed  in  the 
direction  of  its  length  by  a load  B,  and  abutting  on  the 
ends  of  two  beams  AC,  AD,  which  are  firmly  resisted  at 
their  extreme  points  C and  D,  which  rest  on  two  blocks, 
but  are  nowise  joined  to  them  ; these  two  beams  can  re- 
sist no  way  but  in  the  directions  CA,  DA,  and  therefore 
the  pressures  which  they  sustain  from  the  beam  BA  are 
in  the  directions  AC,  AD.  We  wish  to  know  how  much 
each  sustains  : Produce  BA  to  E,  taking  AE  from  a scale 
of  equal  parts,  to  represent  the  number  of  tons  or  pounds 
by  which  BA  is  pressed.  Draw  EF  and  EG  parallel  to 
AD  and  AC  ; then  AF,  measured  on  the  same  scale,  will 
give  us  the  number  of  pounds  by  which  AC  is  strained  or 
crushed,  and  AG  will  give  the  strain  on  AD. 

it  deserves  particular  remark  here,  that  the  length  of 
AC  or  AD  has  no  influence  on  the  strain  arising  from 
the  thrust  BA,  while  the  directions  remain  the  same.  The 
effects,  however,  of  this  strain  are  modified  by  the  length 
of  the  piece  on  which  it  is  exerted.  This  strain  compress- 
es the  beam,  and  will  therefore  compress  a beam  of  double 
length  twice  as  much.  This  may  change  the  form  of  the 
assemblage.  If  AC,  for  example,  be  very  much  shorter 
than  AD,  it  will  be  much  less  compressed  : the  line  CA 
will  turn  about  the  centre  C,  while  DA  will  hardly  change 
its  position  ; and  the  angle  CAD  will  grow  more  open, 
the  point  A sinking  down.  The  artist  will  find  it  of  great 
consequence  to  pay  a very  minute  attention  to  this  cir- 
cumstance, and  to  be  able  to  see  clearly  the  change  of 
shape  which  necessarily  results  from  these  mutual  strains. 

He  will  see  in  this  the  cause  of  failure  in  many  very  great 
works.  By  thus  changing  shape,  strains  are  often  produ- 
ced in  places  where  there  were  none  before,  and  frequent- 
ly of  the  very  worst  kind,  tending  to  break  the  beams 
across. 

The  dotted  lines  of  this  figure  show  another  position 
of  the  beam  AD'.  This  makes  a prodigious  change,  not 
only  in  the  strain  on  AD',  but  also  in  that  on  AC.  Both 
of  them  are  much  increased ; AG  is  almost  doubled,  and 
AF'  is  four  times  greater  than  before.  This  addition  was 


CARPENTRY. 


143 


Carpentry,  made  to  the  figure  to  show  what  enormous  strains  may 
be  produced  by  a very  moderate  force,  AE,  when  it  is 
exerted  on  a very  obtuse  angle.1 

The  fourth  and  fifth  figures  will  assist  the  most  unin- 
structed reader  in  conceiving  how  the  very  same  strains, 
AF,  AG,  are  laid  on  these  beams,  by  a weight  simply 
hanging  from  a . billet  resting  on  A,  pressing  hard  on  AD, 
and  also  leaning  a little  on  AC  ; or  by  an  upright  piece, 

AE,  joggled  on  the  two  beams  AC,  AD,  and  performing 
the  office  of  an  ordinary  king-post.  The  reader  will  thus 
learn  to  call  off  his  attention  from  the  means  by  which  the 
strains  are  produced,  and  learn  to  consider  them  abstract- 
edly merely  as  strains,  in  whatever  situation  he  finds  them, 
and  from  whatever  cause  they  arise. 

We  presume  that  every  reader  will  perceive,  that  the 
proportions  of  these  strains  will  be  precisely  the  same  if 
every  thing  be  inverted,  and  each  beam  be  drawn  or  pull- 
ed in  the  opposite  direction.  In  the  same  way  that  we 
have  substituted  a rope  and  weight  in  fig.  4,  or  a king- 
post in  fig.  5,  for  the  loaded  beam  BA  of  fig.  3,  we  might 
have  substituted  the  framing  of  fig.  6,  which  is  a very  usual 
practice.  In  this  framing,  the  batten  DA  is  stretched  by 
a force  AG,  and  the  piece  AC  is  compressed  by  a force 

AF.  It  is  evident  that  we  may  employ  a rope  or  an  iron 
rod  hooked  on  at  D,  in  place  of  the  batten  DA,  and  the 
strains  will  be  the  same  as  before. 

This  seemingly  simple  matter  is  still  full  of  instruction  ; 
and  we  hope  that  the  well-informed  reader  will  pardon  us, 
though  we  dwell  a little  longer  on  it  for  the  sake  of  the 
young  artist. 

By  changing  the  form  of  this  framing,  as  in  fig.  7,  we 
produce  the  same  strains  as  in  the  disposition  represented 
by  the  dotted  lines  in  fig.  3.  The  strains  on  both  the 
battens  AD,  AC,  are  now  greatly  increased. 

The  same  consequences  result  from  an  improper  change 
of  the  position  of  AC.  If  it  is  placed  as  in  fig.  8,  the 
strains  on  both  are  vastly  increased.  In  short,  the  rule  is 
general,  that  the  more  open  we  make  the  angle  against 
which  the  push  is  exerted,  the  greater  are  the  strains 
which  are  brought  on  the  struts  or  ties  which  form  the 
sides  of  the  angle. 

The  reader  may  not  readily  conceive  the  piece  AC  of 
fig.  8 as  sustaining  a compression ; for  the  weight  B ap- 
pears to  hang  from  AC  as  much  as  from  AD.  But  his 
doubts  will  be  removed  by  considering  whether  he  could 
employ  a rope  in  place  of  AC.  He  cannot ; but  AD  may 
be  exchanged  for  a rope.  AC  is  therefore  a strut,  and 
not  a tie. 

In  fig.  9,  Plate  CXLVIII.  AD  is  again  a strut,  butting 
on  the  block  D,  and  AC  is  a tie  ; and  the  batten  AC  may 
be  replaced  by  a rope.  While  AD  is  compressed  by  the 
force  AG,  AC  is  stretched  by  the  force  AF. 

If  we  give  AC  the  position  represented  by  the  dotted 
lines,  the  compression  of  AD  is  now  AG',  and  the  force 
stretching  AC'  is  now  AF';  both  much  greater  than  they 
were  before.  This  disposition  is  analogous  to  fig.  8,  and 
to  the  dotted  lines  in  fig.  3.  Nor  will  the  young  artist 
have  any  doubts  of  AC'  being  on  the  stretch,  if  he  con- 
sider whether  AD  can  be  replaced  by  a rope.  It  cannot, 
but  AC'  may ; and  it  is  therefore  not  compressed,  but 
stretched. 

In  fig.  10  all  the  three  pieces,  AC,  AD,  and  AB,  are 
ties,  on  the  stretch.  This  is  the  complete  inversion  of  fig. 
3 ; and  the  dotted  position  of  AC  induces  the  same  changes 
in  the  forces  AF,  AG',  as  in  fig.  3. 


Thus  have  we  gone  over  all  the  varieties  which  can  Carpentry, 
happen  in  the  bearings  of  three  pieces  on  one  point.  All 
calculations  about  the  strength  of  carpentry  are  reduced 
to  this  case ; for  when  more  ties  or  braces  meet  in  a point 
(a  thing  that  rarely  happens),  we  reduce  them  to  three, 
by  substituting  for  any  two  the  force  which  results  from 
their  combination,  and  then  combining  this  with  another; 
and  so  on. 

The  young  artist  must  be  particularly  careful  not  to 
mistake  the  kind  of  strain  that  is  exerted  on  any  piece  of 
the  framing,  and  suppose  a piece  to  be  a brace  which  is 
really  a tie.  It  is  very  easy  to  avoid  all  mistakes  in  this 
matter  by  the  following  rule,  which  has  no  exception. 

(See  Note  AA.) 

Take  notice  of  the  direction  in  which  the  piece  acts  Rule  for 
from  which  the  strain  proceeds.  Draw  a line  in  that  di-distin- 
rection  from  the  point  on  which  the  strain  is  exerted,  guishing 
and  let  its  length  (measured  on  some  scale  of  equal  parts)  t*iecaseso^ 
express  the  magnitude  of  this  action  in  pounds,  hundreds,  sp^and" 
or  tons.  From  its  remote  extremity  draw  lines  parallel  toextension. 
the  pieces  on  which  the  strain  is  exerted.  The  line  pa- 
rallel to  one  piece  will  necessarily  cut  the  other,  or  its  di- 
rection produced.  If  it  cut  the  piece  itself,  that  piece  is 
compressed  by  the  strain,  and  it  is  performing  the  office 
of  a strut  or  brace;  if  it  cut  its  direction  produced,  the 
piece  is  stretched,  and  it  is  a tie.  In  short,  the  strains  on 
the  pieces  AC,  AD,  are  to  be  estimated  in  the  direction 
of  the  points  F and  G from  the  strained  point  A.  Thus, 
in  fig.  3,  the  upright  piece  BA,  loaded  with  the  weight  B, 
presses  the  point  A in  the  direction  AE  ; so  does  the  rope 
AB  in  the  other  figures,  or  the  batten  AB  in  fig.  5. 

In  general,  if  the  straining  piece  is  within  the  angle 
formed  by  the  pieces  which  are  strained,  the  strains  which 
they  sustain  are  of  the  opposite  kind  to  that  which  it  ex- 
erts. If  it  be  pushing,  they  are  drawing;  but  if  it  be 
within  the  angle  formed  by  their  directions  produced,  the 
strains  which  they  sustain  are  of  the  same  kind.  All  the 
three  are  either  drawing  or  pressing.  If  the  straining 
piece  lie  within  the  angle  formed  by  one  piece  and  the 
produced  direction  of  the  other,  its  own  strain,  whether 
compression  or  extension,  is  of  the  same  kind  with  that  of 
the  most  remote  of  the  other  two,  and  opposite  to  that  of 
the  nearest.  Thus,  in  fig.  9,  where  AB  is  drawing,  the 
remote  piece  AC  is  also  drawing,  while  AD  is  pushing  or 
resisting  compression. 

In  all  that  has  been  said  on  this  subject,  we  have  not 
spoken  of  any  joints.  In  the  calculations  with  which  we 
are  occupied  at  present,  the  resistance  of  joints  has  no 
share  ; and  we  must  not  suppose  that  they  exert  any 
force  which  tends  to  prevent  the  angles  from  changing. 

The  joints  are  supposed  perfectly  flexible,  or  to  be  like 
compass  joints,  the  pin  of  which  only  keeps  the  pieces  to- 
gether when  one  or  more  of  the  pieces  draws  or  pulls. 

The  carpenter  must  always  suppose  them  all  compass 
joints  when  he  calculates  the  thrusts  and  draughts  of  the 
different  pieces  of  his  frames.  The  strains  on  joints,  and 
their  power  to  produce  or  balance  them,  are  of  a different 
kind,  and  require  a very  different  examination. 

Seeing  that  the  angles  which  the  pieces  make  with  each  General 
other  are  of  such  importance  to  the  magnitude  and  the  expression 
proportion  of  the  excited  strains,  it  is  proper  to  find  out°Hhemag' 
some  way  of  readily  and  compendiously  conceiving  and 
expressing  this  analogy. 

In  general  the  strain  on  any  piece  is  proportional  to  the 
straining  force.  This  is  evident. 


1 The  reader  is  requested  to  add  accents  to  the  extreme  letters  D and  F of  fig.  3,  which  correspond  to  the  position  of  the  beam 
AGD  indicated  by  the  dotted  lines.  Accents  are  also  wanted  to  the  upper  F and  the  lower  C and  G in  fig.  9 : also  to  the  upper  F 
and  lower  G in  fig.  10  ; and  in  this  b should  be  C.  In  fig.  11,  the  i towards  the  left  should  be  t , and  an  accent  is  wanting  over  the 
upper  f.  In  fig.  12,  the  dotted  line  CK  should  be  continued  upward  and  marked  L.  In  fig.  Ifi,  the  letters  should  stand  thus,  A 
CEeD/FB. 


144 


C A R P E N T R Y. 


Carpentry. 


Strains 
propagated 
to  the 
points  of 
support. 


Action  of  a 

straining 

beam. 


. Secondly,  the  strain  on  any  piece  AC  is  proportional  to 
the  sine  of  the  angle  which  the  straining  force  makes  with 
the  other  piece  directly,  and  to  the  sine  of  the  angle  which 
the  pieces  make  with  each  other  inversely. 

For  it  is  plain  that  the  three  pressures  AE,  AF,  and 
AG,  which  are  exerted  at  the  point  A,  are  in  the  propor- 
tion of  the  lines  AE,  AF,  and.FE  (because  FE  is  equal  to 
AG).  But  because  the  sides  of  a triangle  are  proportion- 
al to  the  sines  of  the  opposite  angles,  the  strains  are  pro- 
portional to  the  sines  of  the  angles  AFE,  AEF,  and  FAE. 
But  the  sine  of  AFE  is  the  same  with  the  sine  of  the  angle 
CAD,  which  the  two  pieces  AC  and  AD  make  with  each 
other ; and  the  sine  of  AEF  is  the  same  with  the  sine  of 
EAD,  which  the  straining  piece  BA  makes  with  the  piece 

AC.  Therefore  we  have  this  analogy,  Sin.  CAD  : Sin. 

c i n R A 1 

EAD  = AE:  AF,andAF=  AE  x (EA  Now  the 

Sin.  CAD 

sines  of  angles  are  most  conveniently  conceived  as  deci- 
mal fractions  of  the  radius,  which  is  considered  as  unity. 
Thus.  Sin.  30°  is  the  same  thing  with  0-5,  or  and  so 
of  others.  Therefore,  to  have  the  strain  on  AC,  arising 
from  any  load  AE  actiqg  in  the  direction  AE,  multiply 
AE  by  the  sine  of  EAD,  and  divide  the  product  by  the 
sine  of  CAD. 

This  rule  shows  how  great  the  strains  must  be  when 
the  angle  CAD  becomes  very  open,  approaching  to  180 
degrees.  But  when  the  angle  CAD  becomes  very  small, 
its  sine  (which  is  our  divisor)  is  also  very  small;  and  we 
should  expect  a very  great  quotient  in  this  case  also.  But 
we  must  observe,  that  in  this  case  the  sine  of  EAD  is  also 
very  small ; and  this  is  our  multiplier.  In  such  a case,  the 
quotient  cannot  exceed  unity. 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  consider  the  calculation  by  the 
tables  of  sines  more  particularly.  The  angles  are  seldom 
known  any  otherwise  but  by  drawing  the  figure  of  the 
frame  of  carpentry.  In  this  case,  we  can  always  obtain 
the  measures  of  the  strains  from  the  same  scale,  with  equal 
accuracy,  by  drawing  the  parallelogram  AFCG. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  the  strains  excited  at  A 
only  as  they  affect  the  pieces  on  which  they  are  exerted. 
But  the  pieces,  in  order  to  sustain,  or  be  subject  to,  any 
strain,  must  be  supported  at  their  ends  C and  D ; and  we 
may  consider  them  as  mere  intermediums,  by  which  these 
strains  are  made  to  acton  those  points  of  support : There- 
fore AF  and  AG  are  also  measures  of  the  forces  which 
press  or  pull  at  C and  D.  Thus  we  learn  the  supports 
which  must  be  found  for  these  points.  These  may  be  in- 
finitely various.  We  shall  attend  on!}'  to  such  as  some- 
how depend  on  the  framing  itself. 

Such  a structure  as  fig.  1 1 very  frequently  occurs,  where 
a beam  BA  is  strongly  pressed  to  the  end  of  another  beam 

AD,  which  is  prevented  from  yielding,  both  because  it 
lies  on  another  beam  HD,  and  because  its  end  D is  hin- 
dered from  sliding  backwards.  It  is  indifferent  from  what 
this  pressure  arises:  we  have  represented  it  as  owing  to  a 
weight  hung  on  at  B,  while  B is  withheld  from  yielding 
by  a rod  or  rope  hooked  to  the  wall.  The  beam  AD  may 
be  supposed  at  full  liberty  to  exert  all  its  pressure  on  D, 
as  if  it  were  supported  on  rollers  lodged  in  the  beam  HD  ; 
but  the  loaded  beam  BA  presses  both  on  the  beam  AD 
and  on  HD.  We  wish  only  to  know  what  strain  is  borne 
by  AD. 

All  bodies  act  on  each  other  in  the  direction  perpendi- 
cular to  their  touching  surfaces  ; therefore  the  support 
given  by  HD  is  in  a direction  perpendicular  to  it.  We 
mav  therefore  supply  its  place  at  A by  a beam  AC,  per- 
pendicular to  HD,  and  firmly  supported  at  C.  In  this 
case,  therefore,  we  may  take  AE,  as  before,  to  represent 
the  pressure  exerted  by  the  loaded,  beam,  and  draw  EG 
perpendicular  to  AD,  and  EF  parallel  to  it,  meeting  the 


perpendicular  AC  in  F.  Then  AG  is  the  strain  compress- Carpentry, 
ing  AD,  and  AF  is  the  pressure  on  the  beam  HD. 

It  may  be  thought,  that  since  we  assume  as  a principle  qqie  fonn 
that  the  mutual  pressures  of  solid  bodies  are  exerted  per- of  the 
pendicular  to  their  touching  surfaces,  this  balance  of  pres- abutting 
sures,  in  framings  of  timbers,  depends  on  the  directions  ofJoint  °*  n0 
their  butting  joints;  but  it  does  not,  as  will  readily  appear Sreft  im* 
by  considering  the  present  case.  Let  the  joint  or  abut-1 
ment  of  the  two  pieces  BA,  AD,  be  mitred  in  the  usual 
manner,  in  the  direction  fAf.  Therefore,  if  Ac  be  drawn 
perpendicular  to  A f it  will  be  the  direction  of  the  actual 
pressure  exerted  by  the  loaded  beam  BA  on  the  beam 
AD.  But  the  re-action  of  AD,  in  the  opposite  direction 
A^,  will  not  balance  the  pressure  of  BA  ; because  it  is  not 
in  the  direction  precisely  opposite.  BA  will  therefore 
slide  along  the  joint,  and  press  on  the  beam  HD.  AE  re- 
presents the  load  on  the  mitre  joint  A.  Draw  Ec  perpen- 
dicular to  Ac,  and  E f parallel  to  it.  The  pressure  AE  will 
he  balanced  by  the  re-actions  cA  and/A  ; or,  the  pressure 
AE  produces  the  pressures  Ac  and  Af  of  which  A/must 
be  resisted  by  the  beam  HD,  and  Ac  by  the  beam  AD. 

The  pressure  Af  not  being  perpendicular  to  FID,  cannot 
be  fully  resisted  by  it ; because  (by  our  assumed  principle) 
it  re-acts  only  in  a direction  perpendicular  to  its  surface. 
Therefore  dra wfp,fi,  parallel  to  HD,  and  perpendicular 
to  it.  The  pressure  Af  will  be  resisted  by  HD  with  the 
force  pA  ; but  there  is  required  another  force  iA,  to  pre- 
vent the  beam  BA  from  slipping  outwards.  This  must  be 
furnished  by  the  re-action  of  the  beam  DA.  (See  Note 
BB.)  In  like  manner,  the  other  force  Ac  cannot  be  fully 
resisted  by  the  beam  AD,  or  rather  by  the  prop  D,  act- 
ing by  the  intervention  of  the  beam  ; for  the  action  of  that 
prop  is  exerted  through  the  beam  in  the  direction  DA. 

The  beam  AD,  therefore;  is  pressed  to  the  beam  HD  by 
the  force  Ac,  as  well  as  by  Af  To  find  what  this  pres- 
sure on  HD  is,  draw  eg  perpendicular  to  HD,  and  co  pa- 
rallel to  it,  cutting  EG  in  r.  The  forces  gA  and  oA  will 
resist,  and  balance  Ac. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  two  forces  Ac  and  Af  which  are 
equivalent  to  AE,  are  equivalent  also  to  Ap,  A i,  A o,  and 
A g.  But  because  Af  and  cE  are  equal  and  parallel,  and 
Er  and fi  are  also  parallel,  as  also  cr  and fp,  it  is  evident, 
that  if  is  equal  to  /-E,  or  to  oF,  and  iA  is  equal  to  rc,  or 
to  Gg.  Therefore  the  four  forces  A g,  A o,  Ap,  A i,  are 
equal  to  AG  and  AF.  Therefore  AG  is  the  compression 
of  the  beam  AD,  or  the  force  pressing  it  on  D,  and  AF  is 
the  force  pressing  it  on  the  beam  HD.  Ihe  proportion  of 
these  pressures,  therefore,  is  not  affected  by  the  form  of 
the  joint. 

This  remark  is  important;  for  many  carpenters  think 
the  form  and  direction  of  the  butting  joint  of  great  impor- 
tance; and  even  the  theorist,  by  not  prosecuting  the  ge- 
neral principle  through  all  its  consequences,  may  be  led 
into  an  error.  The  form  of  the  joint  is  of  no  importance, 
in  as  far  as  it  affects  the  strains  in  the  direction  of  the 
beams ; but  it  is  often  of  great  consequence,  in  respect  to 
its  own  firmness,  and  the  effect,  it  may  have  in  bruising 
the  piece  on  which  it  acts,  or  being  crippled  by  it. 

The  same  compression  of  AB,  and  the  same  thrust  on  ^ 

the  point  D by  the  intervention  of  AD,  will  obtain,  in tbeTtrain 
whatever  way  the  original  pressure  on  the  end  A is  pro-on  a tje_ 
duced.  Thus,  supposing  that  a cord  is  made  fast  at  A,  beam, 
and  pulled  in  the  direction  AE,  and  with  the  same  force, 
the  beam  AD  will  be  equally  compressed,  and  the  prop  D 
must  re-act  with  the  same  force. 

But  it  often  happens  that  the  obliquity  of  the  pressure 
on  AD,  instead  of  compressing  it,  stretches  it;  and  we 
desire  to  know  what  tension  it  sustains.  Of  this  we  have 
a familiar  example  in  a common  roof.  Let  the  two  rafters 
AC,  AD  (fig.  12),  press  on  the  tie-beam  DC.  We  may 


CARPENTRY.  145 


Carpentry,  suppose  the  whole  weight  to  press  vertically  on  the  ridge 
A,  as  if  a weight  B were  hung  on  there.  (See  Note  CC.) 
We  may  represent  this  weight  by  the  portion  A b of  the 
vertical  or  plumb  line,  intercepted  between  the  ridge  and 
the  beam.  Then  drawing  bf  and  bg  parallel  to  AD  and 

AC,  Ag  and  Af  will  represent  the  pressures  on  AC  and 

AD.  Produce  AC  till  CIT  be  equal  to  Af.  The  point 
C is  forced  out  in  this  direction,  and  with  a force  repre- 
sented by  this  line.  As  this  force  is  not  perpendicular- 
ly across  the  beam,  it  evidently  stretches  it ; and  this  ex- 
tending force  must  be  withstood  by  an  equal  force  pull- 
ing it  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  must  arise  from  a 
similar  oblique  thrust  of  the  opposite  rafter  on  the  other 
end  D.  We  concern  ourselves  only  with  this  extension 
at  present ; but  we  see  that  the  cohesion  of  tire  beam  does 
nothing  but  supply  the  balance  to  the  extending  forces. 
It  must  still  be  supported  externally,  that  it  may  resist,  and 
by  resisting  obliquely,  be  stretched.  The  points  C and 
D are  supported  on  the  walls,  which  they  press  in  the  di- 
rections CK  and  DO,  parallel  to  Ah.  If  we  draw  HK 
parallel  to  DC,  and  HI  parallel  to  CK  (that  is  to  Ab), 
meeting  DC  produced  in  I,  it  follows  from  the  composi- 
tion of  forces,  that  the  point  C would  be  supported  by  the 
two  forces  KC  and  IC.  In  like  manner,  making  DN  = 
Ag,  and  completing  the  parallelogram  DMNO,  the  point 
D would  be  supported  by  the  forces  OD  and  MD.  If 
we  draw  go  and  fk  parallel  to  DC,  it  is  plain  that  they  are 
equal  to  NO  and  Cl,  while  Ao  and  Ah  are  equal  to  DO 
and  CK,  and  Ab  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  DO  and  CK  (be- 
cause it  is  equal  to  Ao  + Ah).  The  weight  of  the  roof 
is  equal  to  its  vertical  pressure  on  the  walls. 

Thus  we  see,  that  while  a pressure  on  A,  in  the  direc- 
tion Ab,  produces  the  strains  Af  and  Ag,  on  the  pieces 
AC  and  AD,  it  also  excites  a strain  Cl  or  DM  in  the 
piece  DC.  And  this  completes  the  mechanism  of  a frame ; 
for  all  derive  their  efficacy  from  the  triangles  of  which 
they  are  composed,  as  will  appear  more  clearly  as  we  pro- 
ceed. 

External  But  there  is  more  to  be  learned  from  this.  The  con- 
action  of  a sideration  of  the  strains  on  the  two  pieces  AD  and  AC, 
frame.  by  the  action  of  a force  at  A,  only  showed  them  as  the 
means  of  propagating  the  same  strains  in  their  own  direc- 
- tion  to  the  points  of  support.  But,  by  adding  the  strains 
exerted  in  DC,  we  see  that  the  frame  becomes  an  inter- 
medium, by  which  exertions  may  be  made  on  other  bodies 
in  certain  directions  and  proportions,  so  that  this  frame 
may  become  part  of  a more  complicated  one,  and,  as  it 
were,  an  element  of  its  constitution.  It  is  worth  while  to 
ascertain  the  proportion  of  the  pressures  CK  and  DO, 
which  are  thus  exerted  on  the  walls.  The  similarity  of 
triangles  gives  the  following  analogies  : 

DO:  DM  = Ab  : bD 
Cl,  or  DM  : CK  = C b : Ab 
Therefore  DO  : CK  = C b : bD. 

Or,  the  pressures  on  the  points  C and  D,  in  the  direction  of 
the  straining  force  Ab,  are  reciprocally  proportional  to  the 
portions  of  DC  intercepted  by  Ab. 

Also,  since  Ab  is  = DO  + CK,  we  have 

Ab  : CK  = Cb  + Z»D  (or  CD)  : bD,  and 
Ab  : DO  = CD  : bC. 

In  general,  any  two  of  the  three  parallel  forces  Ab,  DO, 
CK,  are  to  each  other  in  the  reciprocal  proportion  of  the 
parts  of  CD,  intercepted  between  their  directions  and  the 
direction  of  the  third. 

And  this  explains  a still  more  important  office  of  the 
frame  ADC.  If  one  of  the  points,  such  as  D,  be  support- 
ed, an  external  power  acting  at  A,  in  the  direction  Ab, 
and  with  an  intensity  which  may  be  measured  by  Ab,  may 
be  set  in  equilibrio  with  another  acting  at  C,  in  the  di- 
rection CL,  opposite  to  CK  or  Ab,  and  with  an  intensity 


represented  by  CK  ; for  since  the  pressure  CH  is  partly  Carpentry, 
withstood  by  the  force  IC,  or  the  firmness  of  the  beam  y-~- 
DC  supported  at  D,  the  force  KC  will  complete  the  ba- 
lance. When  we  do  not  attend  to  the  support  at  D,  we 
conceive  the  force  Ab  to  be  balanced  by  KC,  orKC  to  be 
balanced  by  Ab.  And,  in  like  manner,  we  may  neglect 
the  support  or  force  acting  at  A,  and  consider  the  force 
DO  as  balanced  by  CK. 

Thus  our  frame  becomes  a lever,  and  we  are  able  to 
trace  the  interior  mechanical  procedure  which  gives  it  its 
efficacy  : it  is  by  the  intervention  of  the  forces  of  cohesion, 
which  connect  the  points  to  which  the  external  forces  are 
applied  with  the  supported  point  or  fulcrum  and  with  each 
other. 

These  strains  or  pressures  Ab,  DO,  and  CK,  not  being  it  becomes 
in  the  directions  of  the  beams,  may  be  called  transverse,  a lever. 

We  see  that  by  their  means  a frame  of  carpentry  may  be 
considered  as  a solid  body  : but  the  example  which  brought 
this  to  our  view  is  too  limited  for  explaining  the  efficacy 
which  may  be  given  to  such  constructions.  We  shall 
therefore  give  a general  proposition,  which  will  more  dis- 
tinctly explain  the  procedure  of  nature,  and  enable  us  to 
trace  the  strains  as  they  are  propagated  through  all  the 
parts  of  the  most  complicated  framing,  finally  producing 
the  exertion  of  its  most  distant  points. 

We  presume  that  the  reader  is  now  pretty  well  habitu-  General 
ated  to  the  conception  of  the  strains  as  they  are  propagat- proposition, 
ed  along  the  lines  joining  the  points  of  a frame,  and  we 
shall  therefore  employ  a very  simple  figure. 

Let  the  strong  lines  ACBD  (fig.  13)  represent  a frame 
of  carpentry.  Suppose  that  it  is  pulled  at  the  point  A by 
a force  acting  in  the  direction  AE,  but  that  it  rests  on  a 
fixed  point  C,  and  that  the  other  extreme  point  B is  held 
back  by  a power  which  resists  in  the  direction  BF : It  is 
required  to  determine  the  proportion  of  the  strains  excit- 
ed in  its  different  parts,  the  proportion  of  the  external 
pressures  at  A and  B,  and  the  pressure  which  is  produced 
on  the  obstacle  or  fulcrum  C. 

It  is  evident  that  each  of  the  external  forces  at  A and 
B tend  one  way,  or  to  one  side  of  the  frame,  and  that  each 
would  cause  it  to  turn  round  C if  the  other  did  not  pre- 
vent it ; and  that  if,  notwithstanding  their  action,  it  is 
turned  neither  way,  the  forces  in  actual  exertion  are  in 
equilibrio  by  the  intervention  of  the  frame.  It  is  no  less 
evident  that  these  forces  concur  in  pressing  the  frame  on 
the  prop  C.  Therefore,  if  the  piece  CD  were  away,  and 
if  the  joints  C and  D be  perfectly  flexible,  the  pieces  CA, 

CB,  would  be  turned  round  the  prop  C,  and  the  pieces 
AD,  DB,  would  also  turn  with  them,  and  the  whole  frame 
change  its  form.  This  shows,  by  the  way,  and  we  desire 
it  to  be  carefully  kept  in  mind,  that  the  firmness  or  stiff- 
ness of  framing  depends  entirely  on  the  triangles  bound- 
ed by  beams  which  are  contained  in  it.  An  open  quadri- 
lateral may  always  change  its  shape,  the  sides  revolving 
round  the  angles.  A quadrilateral  may  have  an  infinity 
of  forms,  without  any  change  of  its  sides,  by  merely  push- 
ing two  opposite  angles  towards  each  other,  or  drawing 
them  asunder.  But  when  the  three  sides  of  a triangle 
are  determined,  its  shape  is  also  invariably  determined ; 
and  if  two  angles  be  held  fast,  the  third  cannot  be  moved. 

It  is  thus  that,  by  inserting  the  bar  CD,  the  figure  be- 
comes unchangeable ; and  any  attempt  to  change  it  by 
applying  a force  to  an  angle  A,  immediately  excites  forces 
of  attraction  or  repulsion  between  the  particles  of  the  stuff 
which  form  its  sides.  Thus  it  happens,  in  the  present 
instance,  that  a change  of  shape  is  prevented  by  the  bar 
CD.  The  power  at  A presses  its  end  against  the  prop ; 
and  in  doing  this  it  puts  the  bar  AD  on  the  stretch,  and 
also  the  bar  DB.  Their  places  might  therefore  be  sup- 
plied by  cords  or  metal  wires.  Hence  it  is  evident  that 


146 


CARPENTRY. 


Carpentry.  DC  is  compressed,  as  is  also  AC  ; and,  for  the  same  rea- 
son,  CB  is  also  in  a state  of  compression ; for  either  A or 
B may  be  considered  as  the  point  that  is  impelled  or  with- 
held. Therefore  DA  and  DB  are  stretched,  and  are  re- 
sisting with  attractive  forces.  DC  and  CB  are  compress- 
ed, and  are  resisting  with  repulsive  forces ; and  thus  the 
support  of  the  prop,  combined  with  the  firmness  of  DC, 
puts  the  frame  ADBC  into  the'  condition  of  the  two  frames 
in  fig.  8 and  fig.  9.  Therefore  the  external  force  at  A 
is  really  in  equilibrio  with  an  attracting  force  acting  in 
the  direction  AD,  and  a repulsive  force  acting  in  the 
direction  AK.  And  since  all  the  connecting  forces  are 
mutual  and  equal,  the  point  D is  pulled  or  drawn  in  the 
direction  DA.  The  condition  of  the  point  B is  similar  to 
that  of  A,  and  D is  also  drawn  in  the  direction  DB.  Thus 
the  point  D,  being  urged  by  the  forces  in  the  directions 
DA  and  DB,  presses  the  beam  DC  on  the  prop,  and  the 
prop  resists  in  the  opposite  direction.  Therefore  the  line 
DC  is  the  diagonal  of  the  parallelogram,  whose  sides  have 
the  proportion  of  the  forces  which  connect  D with  A and 
B.  This  is  the  principle  on  which  the  rest  of  our  inves- 
tigation proceeds.  We  may  take  DC  as  the  representa- 
tion and  measure  of  their  joint  effect.  Therefore  draw 
CH,  CG,  parallel  to  DA,  DB.  Draw  HL,  GO,  parallel 
to  CA,  CB,  cutting  AE,  BF,  in  L and  O,  and  cutting  DA, 
DB,  in  I and  M.  Complete  the  parallelograms  ILKA, 
MONB.  Then  DG  and  AI  are  the  equal  and  opposite 
forces  which  connect  A and  D ; for  GD  — CLI  — AI. 
In  like  manner  DH  and  BM  are  the  forces  which  connect 
D and  B. 

The  external  force  at  A is  in  immediate  equilibrio  with 
the  combined  forces,  connecting  A with  D and  with  C. 
AI  is  one  of  them,  therefore  AK  is  the  other;  and  AL 
is  the  compound  force  with  which  the  external  force  at  A 
is  in  immediate  equilibrium.  This  external  force  is  there- 
fore equal  and  opposite  to  AL.  In  like  manner,  the  ex- 
ternal force  at  B is  equal  and  opposite  to  BO  ; and  AL  is 
to  BO  as  the  external  force  at  A to  the  external  force  at 
B.  The  prop  C resists  with  forces  equal  to  those  which 
are  propagated  to  it  from  the  points  D,  A,  and  C.  There- 
fore it  resists  with  forces  CH,  CG,  equal  and  opposite  to 
DG,  DH  ; and  it  resists  the  compressions  KA,  NB,  with 
equal  and  opposite  forces  C/e,  Cm.  Draw  kl,  no,  parallel  to 
AD,  BD,  and  draw  C IQ,  CoP:  It  is  plain  that  kCHl  is  a 
parallelogram  equal  to  KAIL,  and  that  Cl  is  equal  to  AL. 
In  like  manner  Co  is  equal  to  BO.  Now  the  forces  Ck, 
CH,  exerted  by  the  prop,  compose  the  force  Cl;  and  Cm, 
CG,  compose  the  force  Co.  These  two  forces  Cl,  Co,  are 
equal  and  parallel  to  AL  and  BO  ; and  therefore  they  are 
equal  and  opposite  to  the  external  forces  acting  at  A and 
B.  But  they  are,  primitively,  equal  and  opposite  to  the 
pressures,  or  at  least  the  compounds  of  the  pressures,  ex- 
erted on  the  prop,  by  the  forces  propagated  to  C from  A, 
D,  and  B.  Therefore  the  pressures  exerted  on  the  prop 
are  the  same  as  if  the  external  forces  were  applied  there 
in  the  same  directions  as  they  are  applied  to  A and  B. 
Now  if  we  make  Cv,  Cz,  equal  to  Cl  and  Co,  and  complete 


the  parallelogram  Cvyz,  it  is  plain  that  the  force  yC  is  Carpentry, 
in  equilibrio  with  1C  and  oC.  Therefore  the  pressures  at 
A,  C,  and  B are  such  as  would  balance  if  applied  to  one 
point.  1 


Lastly,  in  order  to  determine  their  proportions,  draw 
CS  and  CR  perpendicular  to  DA  and  DB.  Also  draw 
Ad,  B/i  perpendicular  to  CQ  and  CP ; and  draw  C g,  C i, 
perpendicular  to  AE,  BF. 

The  triangles  CPR  and  Bl^are  similar,  having  a com- 
mon angle  P,  and  a right  angle  at  R and  f. 

In  like  manner,  the  triangles  CQS  and  AQ d are  similar. 
Also  the  triangles  CHR,  CGS,  are  similar,  by  reason  of 
the  equal  angles  at  LI  and  G,  and  the  right  angles  at  R 
and  S.  Hence  w*e  obtain  the  following  analogies : 

Co  : CP  = on  : PB,  = CG  : PB 


CP:Cll=  PB:/B 

CR : CS  = CH: CG 

CS  : CQ  ==  Ad  : AQ 

CQ:  Cl  = AQ  : hi,  = AQ:  CLI. 

Therefore,  by  equality, 

Co  : Cl  = Ad  :/B 

or  BO  : AL  = Cg  : CL 

That  is,  the  external  forces  are  reciprocally  proportional 
to  the  perpendiculars  drawn  from  the  prop  on  the  lines  of 
their  direction.1 

This  proposition,  sufficiently  general  for  our  purpose,  is  Extensive 
fertile  in  consequences,  and  furnishes  many  useful  instruc-  consequen. 
tions  to  the  artist.  The  strains  LA,  OB,  CY,  that  are  ces- 
excited,  occur  in  many,  we  may  say  in  all,  framings  of 
carpentry,  whether  for  edifices  or  engines,  and  are  the 
sources  of  their  efficacy.  It  is  also  evident  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  transverse  strength  of  timber  is  contained  in 
this  proposition;  for  every  piece  of  timber  maybe  con- 
sidered as  an  assemblage  of  parts,  connected  by  forces 
which  act  in  the  direction  of  the  lines  which  joined  the 
strained  points  on  the  matter  which  lies  between  those 
points,  and  also  act  on  the  rest  of  the  matter,  exciting 
those  lateral  forces  which  produce  the  inflexibility  of  the 
whole.  See  Strength  of  Materials. 

Thus  it  appears  that  this  proposition  contains  the  prin- 
ciples which  direct  the  artist  to  frame  the  most  powerful 
levers;  to  secure  uprights  by  shores  or  braces,  or  by  tiers 
and  ropes ; to  secure  scaffoldings  for  the  erection  of  spires  ; 
and  many  other  more  delicate  problems  of  his  art.  He  also 
learns  from  this  proposition  how  to  ascertain  the  strains 
that  are  produced,  without  his  intention,  by  pieces  which 
he  intended  for  other  offices,  and  which,  by  their  trans- 
verse action,  puts  his  work  in  hazard.  In  short,  this  pro- 
position is  the  key  to  the  science  of  this  art. 

We  would  now  counsel  the  artist,  after  he  has  made 
the  tracing  of  the  strains  and  thrusts  through  the  vari- 
ous parts  of  a frame  familiar  to  his  mind,  and  even  amused 
himself  with  some  complicated  fancy  framings,  to  read 
over  with  care  the  articles  Strength  of  Materials 
and  Roof.  He  will  now  conceive  its  doctrine  much  more 
clearly  than  when  he  was  considering  them  as  abstract 
theories.  The  mutual  action  of  the  woody  fibres  will  now 


1 “ The  learned  reader  will  perceive  that  this  analogy  is  precisely  the  same  with  that  of  forces  which  are  in  equilibrio  by  the  in- 
tervention of  a lever.  In  fact,  this  whole  frame  of  carpentry  is  nothing  else  than  a built  or  framed  lever  in  equilibrio.  It  is  acting  in 
the  same  manner  as  a solid,  which  occupies  the  whole  figure  compressed  in  the  frame,  or  as  a body  of  any  size  and  shape  whatever  that 
will  admit  the  three  points  of  application  A,  C,  and  B.  It  is  always  in  equilibrio  in  the  case  first  stated  ; because  the  pressure  pro- 
duced at  B by  a force  applied  to  A is  always  such  as  balances  it.  The  reader  may  also  perceive,  in  this  proposition,  the  analysis  or 
tracing  of  those  internal  mechanical  forces  which  are  indispensably  requisite  for  the  functions  of  a lever.  The  mechanicians  have  been 
extremely  puzzled  to  find  a legitimate  demonstration  of  the  equilibrium  of  a lever  ever  since  the  days  of  Archimedes.  Mr  Vince  has 
the  honour  of  first  demonstrating,  most  ingeniously,  the  principle  assumed  by  Archimedes,  but  without  sufficient  ground  for  his  de- 
monstration ; but  Mr  Vince’s  demonstration  is  only  a putting  the  mind  into  that  perplexed  state  which  makes  it  acknowledge  the 
proposition,  but  without  a clear  perception  of  its  truth.  The  difficulty  has  proceeded  from  the  abstract  notion  of  a lever,  conceiving 
it  as  a mathematical  line — inflexible,  without  reflecting  how  it  is  inflexible;  for  the  very  source  of  this  indispensable  quality  furnishes 
the  mechanical  connection  between  the  remote  pressures  and  the  fulcrum  ; and  this  supplies  the  demonstration  (without  the  least  dif- 
ficulty) of  the  desperate  case  of  a straight  lever  urged  by  parallel  forces.”  See  the  article  Rotation. 


CARPENTK  Y. 


Carpentry.be  easily  comprehended,  and  his  confidence  in  the  results 
'-'v'"-' ' will  be  greatly  increased. 

Decision  of  There  is  a proposition  (see  article  Roof)  which  has 
a^disputed  been  called  in  question  by  several  very  intelligent  persons ; 
and  very  an(j  say  Belidor  has  demonstrated,  in  his  Science 
important  Ingenieurs,  that  a beam  firmly  fixed  at  both  ends  is 
q ’ not  twice  as  strong  as  when  simply  lying  on  the  props ; 

and  that  its  strength  is  increased  only  in  the  proportion  of 
two  to  three ; and  they  support  this  determination  by  a list 
of  experiments  recited  by  Belidor,  which  agree  precisely 
with  it.  Belidor  also  says  that  Pitot  had  the  same  result 
in  his  experiments.  These  are  respectable  authorities, 
but  Belidor’s  reasoning  is  any  thing  but  demonstration, 
and  his  experiments  are  described  in  such  an  imperfect 
manner  that  we  cannot  build  much  on  them.  It  is  not 
said  in  what  manner  the  battens  were  secured  at  the  ends, 
any  further  than  that  it  was  by  chevalets.  If  by  this  word 
is  meant  a trestle,  we  cannot  conceive  how  they  were  em- 
ployed ; but  we  see  it  sometimes  used  for  a wedge  or  key. 
If  the  battens  were  wedged  in  the  holes,  their  resistance 
to  fracture  may  be  made  what  we  please ; they  may  be 
made  loose,  and  therefore  resist  little  more  than  when 
simply  laid  on  props.  They  may  be  (and  probably  were) 
wedged  very  fast,  and  bruised  or  crippled. 

Our  proposition  mentioned  distinctly  the  security  given 
to  the  ends  of  the  beams.  They  were  mortised  into  re- 
mote posts.  Our  precise  meaning  was,  that  they  were 
simply  kept  from  rising  by  these  mortises,  but  at  full  li- 
berty to  bend  up  at  E and  I,  and  between  G and  K.  Our 
assertion  was  not  made  from  theory  alone  (although  we 
think  the  reasoning  incontrovertible),  but  was  agreeable 
to  numerous  experiments  made  in  those  precise  circum- 
stances. Had  we  mortised  the  beams  firmly  into  two 
very  stout  posts  which  could  not  be  drawn  nearer  to  each 
other  by  bending,  the  beam  would  have  borne  a much 
greater  weight,  as  we  have  verified  by  experiments.  We 
hope  that  the  following  mode  of  conceiving  this  case  will 
remove  all  doubts. 

Let  LM  be  a long  beam  (fig.  14)  divided  into  six  equal 
parts,  in  the  points  D,  B,  A,  C,  E.  Let  it  be  firmly  sup- 
ported at  L,  B,  C,  M.  Let  it  be  cut  through  at  A,  and 
have  compass  joints  at  B and  C.  Let  FB,  GC,  be  two 
equal  uprights,  resting  on  B and  C,  but  without  any  connec- 
tion. Let  AH  be  a similar  and  equal  piece,  to  be  occa- 
sionally applied  at  the  seam  A.  Now  let  a thread  or  wire 
AGE  be  extended  over  the  piece  GC,  and  made  fast  at 
A,  G,  and  E.  Let  the  same  thing  be  done  on  the  other 
side  of  A.  If  a weight  be  now  laid  on  at  A,  the  wires 
AFD,  AGE,  will  be  strained,  and  may  be  broken.  In  the 
instant  of  fracture  we  may  suppose  their  strains  to  be  re- 
presented by  A f and  A g.  Complete  the  parallelogram, 
and  A a is  the  magnitude  of  the  weight.  It  is  plain  that 
nothing  is  concerned  here  but  the  cohesion  of  the  wires ; 
for  the  beam  is  sawed  through  at  A,  and  its  parts  are  per- 
fectly movable  round  B and  C. 

Instead  of  this  process,  apply  the  piece  AH  below  A, 
and  keep  it  there  by  straining  the  same  wire  BHC  over  it. 
Now  lay  on  a weight.  It  must  press  down  the  ends  of 
BA  and  CA,  and  cause  the  piece  AH  to  strain  the  wire 
BHC.  In  the  instant  of  fracture  of  the  same  wire,  its  re- 
sistances FIA  and  He  must  be  equal  to  A f and  Ag,  and 
the  weight  AH  which  breaks  them  must  be  equal  to  A a. 

Lastly,  employ  all  the  three  pieces  FB,  AH,  GC,  with 
the  same  wire  attached  as  before.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  the  weight  which  breaks  all  the  four  wires  must 
be  = a A + AH,  or  twice  A a. 

The  reader  cannot  but  see  that  the  wires  perform  the 
very  same  office  with  the  fibres  of  an  entire  beam  LM  held 
fast  in  the  four  holes  D,  B,  C,  and  E,  of  some  upright  posts. 

In  the  experiments  for  verifying  this,  by  breaking  slen- 


147 

der  bars  of  fine  deal,  we  get  complete  demonstration,  by  Carpentry, 
measuring  the  curvatures  produced  in  the  parts  of  the 
beam  thus  held  down,  and  comparing  them  with  the  cur- 
vature of  a beam  simply  laid  on  the  props  B and  C ; and 
there  are  many  curious  inferences  to  be  made  from  these 
observations,  but  we  have  not  room  for  them  in  this  place. 

We  may  observe  by  the  way,  that  we  learn  from  this  The  best 
case  that  purlins  are  able  to  carry  twice  the  load  when  manner  of 
notched  into  the  rafters  that  they  carry  when  mortised ^ran?.inS 
into  them,  which  is  the  most  usual  manner  of  framing  Pur  ins‘ 
them.  So  would  the  bending  joists  of  floors ; but  this 
would  double  the  thickness  of  the  flooring.  But  this  method 
should  be  followed  in  every  possible  case,  such  as  brest- 
summers,  lintels  over  several  pillars,  &c.  These  should 
never  be  cut  off  and  mortised  into  the  sides  of  every  up- 
right; numberless  cases  will  occur  which  show  the  im- 
portance of  the  maxim. 

We  must  here  remark,  that  the  proportion  of  the  spaces 
BC  and  CM,  or  BC  and  LB,  has  a very  sensible  effect  on 
the  strength  of  the  beam  BC ; but  we  have  not  yet  satis- 
fied our  minds  as  to  the  rationale  of  this  effect.  It  is  un- 
doubtedly connected  with  the  serpentine  form  of  the  curve 
of  the  beam  before  fracture.  This  should  be  attended 
to  in  the  construction  of  the  springs  of  carriages.  These 
are  frequently  supported  at  the  middle  point  (and  it  is  an 
excellent  practice) ; and  there  is  a certain  proportion 
which  will  give  the  easiest  motion  to  the  body  of  the  car- 
riage. We  also  think  that  it  is  connected  with  that  de- 
viation from  the  best  theory  observable  in  Buffon’s  expe- 
riments on  various  lengths  of  the  same  scantling.  The 
force  of  the  beams  diminished  much  more  than  in  the  in- 
verse proportion  of  their  lengths. 

We  have  seen  that  it  depends  entirely  on  the  position  In  what 
of  the  pieces  in  respect  of  their  points  of  ultimate  support,  case  ties 
and  of  the  direction  of  the  external  force  which  produces  are  better 
the  strains,  whether  any  particular  piece  is  in  a state  of t'*lan struta‘ 
extension  or  of  compression.  The  knowledge  of  this  cir- 
cumstance may  greatly  influence  us  in  the  choice  of  the 
construction.  In  many  cases  we  may  substitute  slender 
iron  rods  for  massive  beams,  when  the  piece  is  to  act  the 
part  of  a tie.  But  we  must  not  invert  this  disposition ; 
for  when  a piece  of  timber  acts  as  a strut,  and  is  in  a state 
of  compression,  it  is  next  to  certain  that  it  is  not  equally 
compressible  in  its  opposite  sides  through  the  whole  length 
of  the  piece,  and  that  the  compressing  force  on  the  abut- 
ting joint  is  not  acting  in  the  most  equable  manner  all 
over  the  joint.  A very  trifling  inequality  in  either  of 
these  circumstances  (especially  in  the  first)  will  compress 
the  beam  more  on  one  side  than  on  the  other.  This  can- 
not be  without  the  beam’s  bending,  and  becoming  concave 
on  that  side  on  which  it  is  most  compressed.  When  this 
happens,  the  frame  is  in  danger  of  being  crushed,  and 
soon  going  to  ruin.  It  is,  therefore,  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  make  use  of  beams  in  all  cases  where  struts  are 
required  of  considerable  length,  rather  than  of  metal  rods 
of  slender  dimensions,  unless  in  situations  where  we  can 
effectually  prevent  their  bending,  as  in  trussing  a girder 
internally,  where  a cast-iron  strut  may  be  firmly  cased  in 
it,  so  as  not  to  bend  in  the  smallest  degree.  In  cases 
where  the  pressures  are  enormous,  as  in  the  very  oblique 
struts  of  a centre  or  arch  frame,  we  must  be  particularly 
cautious  to  do  nothing  which  can  facilitate  the  compres- 
sion of  either  side.  No  mortises  should  be  cut  near  to 
one  side ; no  lateral  pressures,  even  the  slightest,  should 
be  allowed  to  touch  it.  We  have  seen  a pillar  of  fir  twelve 
inches  long,  and  one  inch  in  section,  when  loaded  with 
three  tons,  snap  in  an  instant  when  pressed  on  one  side 
by  sixteen  pounds,  while  another  bore  four  and  a half  tons 
without  hurt,  because  it  was  inclosed  (loosely)  in  a stout 
pipe  of  iron.  (See  Note  DD.) 


1 4 R 


CARPENTR  Y. 


Carpentry.  In  such  cases  of  enormous  compression  it  is  of  great 
importance  that  the  compressing  force  bear  equally  on  the 
whole  abutting  surface.  The  German  carpenters  are  ac- 
customed to  put  a plate  of  lead  over  the  joint.  This  pre- 
vents, in  some  measure,  the  penetration  of  the  end  fibres. 
M.  Perronet,  the  celebrated  French  architect,  formed  his 
abutments  into  arches  of  circles,  the  centre  of  which  was 
the  remote  end  of  the  strut.  *By  this  contrivance  the  un- 
avoidable change  of  form  of  the  triangle  made  no  partial 
bearing  of  either  angle  of  the  abutment.  This  always  has 
a tendency  to  splinter  off  the  heel  of  the  beam  where  it 
presses  strongest.  It  is  a very  judicious  practice.  (See 
Note  EE.) 

When  circumstances  allow  it,  we  must  rather  employ 
ties  than  struts  for  securing  a beam  against  lateral  strains. 
When  an  upright  pillar,  such  as  a flag-staff,  a mast,  or  the 
uprights  of  a very  tall  scaffolding,  are  to  be  shoared  up, 
the  dependence  is  more  certain  on  those  braces  that  are 
stretched  by  the  strain  than  on  those  which  are  compress- 
ed. The  scaffolding  of  the  iron  bridge  near  Sunderland 
had  some  ties  very  judiciously  disposed,  and  others  with 
less  judgment. 

We  should  proceed  to  consider  the  transverse  strains 
as  they  affect  the  various  parts  of  a frame  of  carpentry ; 
but  we  have  very  little  to  say  here  in  addition  to  what 
will  be  found  in  the  articles  Strength  of  Materials 
and  Roof.  What  we  shall  add  in  this  article  will  find 
a place  in  our  occasional  remarks  on  different  works.  It 
may,  however,  be  of  use  to  recal  to  the  reader’s  memory 
the  following  propositions. 

General  1.  When  a beam  AB  (fig.  15)  is  firmly  fixed  at  the  end 
theorems  A,  and  a straining  force  acts  perpendicularly  to  its  length 
concerning  at  any  p0jnt  g.  the  strain  occasioned  at  any  section  C be- 
^^■tween  1*  an<I  A >s  proportional  to  CB,  and  may  therefore 
be  represented  by  the  product  tv  X CB ; that  is,  by  the 
product  of  the  number  of  tons,  pounds,  &c.  which  measure 
the  straining  force,  and  the  number  of  feet,  inches,  &c. 
contained  in  CB.  As  the  loads  on  a beam  are  easily  con- 
ceived, we  shall  substitute  this  for  any  other  straining  force. 

2.  If  the  strain  or  load  is  uniformly  distributed  along 
any  part  of  the  beam  lying  beyond  C (that  is,  farther  from 
A),  the  strain  at  C is  the  same  as  if  the  load  were  all  col- 
lected at  the  middle  point  of  that  part ; for  that  point  is 
the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  load. 

3.  The  strain  on  any  section  D of  a beam  AB  (fig.  16) 

• , , A , „ . ADXDB 

resting  freely  on  two  props  A and  13,  is  tv  X — . 

(See  Roof,  No.  19,  and  Strength  of  Materials,  No. 
92,  &c.)  Therefore, 

4.  The  strain  on  the  middle  point,  by  a force  applied 
there,  is  one  fourth  of  the  strain  which  the  same  force 
would  produce  if  applied  to  one  end  of  a beam  of  the 

same  length  having  the  other  end  fixed. 

0.0 

5.  The  strain  on  any  section  C of  a beam,  resting  on  two 
props  A and  B,  occasioned  by  a force  applied  perpendicu- 
larly to  another  point  D,  is  proportional  to  the  rectangle 

. . . . ACXDB 

of  the  exterior  segments,  or  is  equal  to  tv  X 


beams. 


7VB  ’ 

Therefore, 

The  strain  at  C occasioned  by  the  pressure  on  D is  the 
same  with  the  strain  at  D occasioned  by  the  same  pres- 
sure on  C. 

6.  The  strain  on  any  section  D,  occasioned  by  a load 
uniformly  diffused  over  any  part  EF,  is  the  same  as  if  the 
two  parts  ED,  DF,  of  the  load  were  collected  at  their  mid- 
dle points  e and / Therefore, 

The  strain  on  any  part  D,  occasioned  by  a load  uniform- 
ly distributed  over  the  whole  beam,  is  one  half  of  the  strain 
that  is  produced  when  the  same  load  is  laid  on  at  D ; and 


The  strain  on  the  middle  point  C,  occasioned  by  a load  Carpentry 
uniformly  distributed  over  the  whole  beam,  is  the  same 
which  half  that  load  would  produce  if  laid  on  at  C. 

7.  A beam  supported  at  both  ends  on  two  props  B and 
C (fig.  14),  will  carry  twice  as  much  when  the  ends  be- 
yond the  .props  are  kept  from  rising,  as  it  will  carry  when 
it  rests  loosely  on  the  props. 

8.  Lastly,  the  transverse  strain  on  any  section,  occa- 
sioned by  a force  applied  obliquely,  is  diminished  in  the 
proportion  of  the  sine  of  the  angle  which  the  direction  of 
the  force  makes  with  the  beam.  Thus,  if  it  be  inclined  to 
it  in  an  angle  of  thirty  degrees,  the  strain  is  one  half  of 
the  strain  occasioned  by  the  same  force  acting  perpendi- 
cularly. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  relative  strength  of  a beam, 
or  its  power  in  any  particular  section  to  resist  any  transverse 
strain,  is  proportional  to  the  absolute  cohesion  to  the  sec- 
tion directly,  to  the  distance  of  its  centre  of  effort  from  the 
axis  of  fracture  directly,  and  to  the  distance  from  the 
strained  point  inversely. 

Thus,  in  a rectangular  section  of  the  beam,  of  which  b 
is  the  breadth,  d the  depth  (that  is,  the  dimension  in  the 
direction  of  the  straining  force),  measured  in  inches,  and  / 
the  number  of  pounds  which  one  square  inch  will  just 
support  without  being  torn  asunder,  we  must  have/  XbXd2, 
proportional  to  tv  X CB  (fig.  15).  Or,/  X b X d2,  mul- 
tiplied by  some  number  m,  depending  on  the  nature  of  the 
timber,  must  be  equal  to  tv  X CB.  Or,  in  the  case  of 
the  section  C of  fig.  16,  that  is  strained  by  the  force  tv  ap- 

, „ . , „ _ ACXDB 

plied  at  D,  we  must  have  m X fbd 2 — tv  X . 

1 J AB 

Thus,  if  the  beam  is  of  sound  oak,  m is  very  nearly 
= ^ (see  Strength  of  Materials,  No.  116.)  There- 

AC  X CB  .p,  XT  T,T. . 
tv  x tv; • (See  Note  FI.) 


r r fbd2 
tore  we  have  ^ — = 


AB 


Hence  we  can  tell  the  precise  force  tv  which  any  sec- 
tion C can  just  resist  when  that  force  is  applied  in  any 
way  whatever ; for  the  above-mentioned  formula  gives 

w — for  the  case  represented  by  fig.  15.  But  the 
case  represented  in  fig.  16,  having  the  straining  force  ap- 
plied at  D,  gives  the  strain  at  C (=  tv)  =.f  X r *7^ 

y A C X Ld 

Example.  Let  an  oak  beam,  four  inches  square,  rest 
freely  on  the  props  A and  B,  seven  feet  apart,  or  eighty- 
four  inches.  What  weight  will  it  just  support  at  its  mid- 
dle point  C,  on  the  supposition  that  a square  inch  rod  will 
just  carry  16,000  pounds,  pulling  it  asunder? 

, . , 16000  X 4 X 16  X84 

1 he  formula  becomes  tv  = 


86016000 


9 X 42  X 42 

~ , = 5418  pounds.  This  is  very  near 

what  was  employed  in  Buffon’s  experiment,  which  was 
5312. 

Had  the  straining  force  acted  on  a point  D,  half  way 
between  C and  B,  the  force  sufficient  to  break  the  beam 


at  C would  be  = 


16000  X 4 X 16  X 84 


= 10836  lbs. 


9 X 42  X 21 
Had  the  beam  been  sound  red  fir,  we  must  have  taken 
/ = 10,000  nearly,  and  m nearly  8 ; for  although  fir  be 
less  cohesive  than  oak  in  the  proportion  of  five  to  eight 
nearly,  it  is  less  compressible,  and  its  axis  of  fracture  is 
therefore  nearer  to  the  concave  side. 

Having  considered  at  sufficient  length  the  strains  ofOf  joints, 
different  kinds  which  arise  from  the  form  of  the  parts  of  a 
frame  of  carpentry,  and  the  direction  of  the  external  forces 
which  act  on  it,  whether  considered  as  impelling  or  as 
supporting  its  different  parts,  we  must  now  proceed  to  con- 


CARPENTRY. 


Carpentry,  sider  the  means  by  which  this  form  is  to  be  secured,  and 
''—'■'y the  connections  by  which  those  strains  are  excited  and 
communicated. 

The  joinings  practised  in  carpentry  are  almost  infinite- 
ly various,  and  each  has  advantages  which  make  it  prefer- 
able in  some  circumstances.  Many  varieties  are  employed 
merely  to  please  the  eye.  We  do  not  concern  ourselves 
with  these : nor  shall  we  consider  those  which  are  only 
employed  in  connecting  small  works,  and  can  never  appear 
on  a great  scale ; yet  even  in  some  of  these,  the  skill  of 
the  carpenter  may  be  discovered  by  his  choice  ; for  in  all 
cases,  it  is  wise  to  make  every,  even  the  smallest,  part  of 
his  work  as  strong  as  the  materials  will  admit.  He  will 
be  particularly  attentive  to  the  changes  which  will  neces- 
sarily happen  by  the  shrinking  of  timber  as  it  dries,  and  will 
consider  what  dimensions  of  his  framings  will  be  affected 
by  this,  and  what  will  not;  and  will  then  dispose  the  pieces 
which  are  less  essential  to  the  strength  of  the  whole,  in 
such  a manner  that  their  tendency  to  shrink  shall  be  in 
the  same  direction  with  the  shrinking  of  the  whole  fram- 
ing. If  he  do  otherwise,  the  seams  will  widen,  and  parts 
will  be  split  asunder.  He  will  dispose  his  boardings  in 
such  a manner  as  to  contribute  to  the  stiffness  of  the  whole, 
avoiding  at  the  same  time  the  giving  them  positions  which 
will  produce  lateral  strains  on  truss  beams  which  bear 
great  pressures  ; recollecting,  that  although  a single  board 
has  little  force,  yet  many  united  have  a great  deal,  and 
may  frequently  perform  the  office  of  very  powerful  struts. 

Our  limits  confine  us  to  the  joinings  which  are  most 
essential  for  connecting  the  parts  of  a single  piece  of  a 
frame  when  it  cannot  be  formed  of  one  beam,  either  for 
want  of  the  necessary  thickness  or  length  ; and  the  joints 
for  connecting  the  different  sides  of  a trussed  frame. 
Ofbuilding  Much  ingenuity  and  contrivance  has  been  bestowed  on 
up  beams,  the  manner  of  building  up  a great  beam  of  many  thick- 
nesses, and  many  singular  methods  are  practised  as  great 
nostrums  by  different  artists ; but  when  we  consider  the 
manner  in  which  the  cohesion  of  the  fibres  performs  its 
office,  we  will  clearly  see  that  the  simplest  are  equally 
effected  with  the  most  refined,  and  that  they  are  less  apt 
to  lead  us  into  false  notions  of  the  strength  of  the  as- 
semblage. 

Building  Thus,  were  it  required  to  build  up  a beam  for  a great 
up  a girder  ]ever  or  a girder,  so  that  it  may  act  nearly  as  a beam  of 
or  lever.  t]ie  same  s;ze  0f  one  ]0„  ;t  raay  either  be  done  by  plain  jog- 
gling, as  in  Plate  CXLIX.  fig.  17,  A,  or  by  scarfing,  as  in  fig. 
Joggling  17,  B or  C.  If  it  is  to  act  as  a lever,  having  the  gudgeon 
preferable  on  the  lower  side  at  C,  we  believe  that  most  artists  will 
to  scar  ng.  prefgr  the  form  B and  C ; at  least  this  has  been  the  case 
with  nine  tenths  of  those  to  whom  we  have  proposed  the 
question.  The  best  informed  only  hesitated  ; but  the  or- 
dinary artists  were  all  confident  in  its  superiority,  and  we 
found  their  views  of  the  matter  very  coincident.  They 
considered  the  upper  piece  as  grasping  the  lower  in  its 
hooks;  and  several  imagined,  that  by  driving  the  one  very 
tight  on  the  other,  the  beam  would  be  stronger  than  an 
entire  log ; but  if  we  attend  carefully  to  the  internal  pro- 
cedure in  the  loaded  lever,  we  shall  find  the  upper  one 
clearly  the  strongest.  If  they  are  formed  of  equal  logs, 
the  upper  one  is  thicker  than  the  other  by  the  depth  of 
the  joggling  or  scarfing,  which  we  suppose  to  be  the  same 
in  both  ; consequently,  if  the  cohesion  of  the  fibres  in 
the  intervals  is  able  to  bring  the  uppermost  filaments  into 
full  action,  the  form  A is  stronger  than  B,  in  the  propor- 
tion of  the  greater  distance  of  the  upper  filaments  from 
the  axis  of  the  fracture.  This  may  be  greater  than  the 
difference  of  the  thickness  if  the  wood  is  very  compres- 
sible. If  the  gudgeon  be  in  the  middle,  the  effect,  both  of 
the  joggles  and  the  scarfings,  is  considerably  diminished  ; 
and  if  it  is  on  the  upper  side  the  scarfings  act  in  a very 


149 

different  way.  In  this  situation,  if  the  loads  on  the  arms  Carpentry, 
are  also  applied  to  the  upper  side,  the  joggled  beam  is 
still  more  superior  to  the  scarfed  one.  This  will  be  best 
understood  by  resolving  it  in  imagination  into  a trussed 
frame.  But  when  a gudgeon  is  thus  put  on  that  side  of 
the  lever  which  grows  convex  by  the  strain,  it  is  usual  to 
connect  it  with  the  rest  by  a powerful  strap,  which  em- 
braces the  beam,  and  causes  the  opposite  point  to  become 
the  resisting  point.  This  greatly  changes  the  internal  ac- 
tions of  the  filaments,  and  in  some  measure  brings  it  into 
the  same  state  as  the  first,  with  the  gudgeon  below.  Were 
it  possible  to  have  the  gudgeon  on  the  upper  side,  and  to 
bring  the  whole  into  action  without  a strap,  it  would  be 
the  strongest  of  all;  because  in  general  the  resistance  to 
compression  is  greater  than  to  extension.  In  every  situa- 
tion the  joggled  beam  has  the  advantage,  and  it  is  the 
easiest  executed.  (See  Note  GG.) 

We  may  frequently  gain  a considerable  accession  of 
strength  by  this  building  up  of  a beam,  especially  if  the 
part  which  is  stretched  by  the  strain  be  of  oak,  and  the 
other  part  be  fir.  Fir  being  so  much  superior  to  oak 
as  a pillar  (if  Muschenbroeck’s  experiments  may  be  con- 
fided in),  and  oak  so  much  preferable  as  a tie,  this  con- 
struction seems  to  unite  both  advantages.  But  we  shall 
see  much  better  methods  of  making  powerful  levers,  gir- 
ders, &c.  by  trussing. 

Observe  that  the  efficacy  of  both  methods  depends  en- 
tirely on  the  difficulty  of  causing  the  piece  between  the 
cross  joints  to  slide  along  the  timber  to  which  it  adheres. 
Therefore,  if  this  be  moderate,  it  is  wrong  to  make  the 
notches  deep ; for  as  soon  as  they  are  so  deep  that  their 
ends  have  a force  sufficient  to  push  the  slice  along  the 
line  of  junction,  nothing  is  gained  by  making  them  deeper ; 
and  this  requires  a greater  expenditure  of  timber. 

Scarfings  are  frequently  made  oblique,  as  in  fig.  18 ; 
but  we  imagine  that  this  is  a bad  practice.  It  begins  to 
yield  at  a point  where  the  wood  is  crippled  and  splintered 
off,  or  at  least  bruised  out  a little.  As  the  pressure  in- 
creases, this  part,  by  squeezing  broader,  causes  the  solid 
parts  to  rise  a little  upwards,  and  gives  them  some  ten- 
dency, not  only  to  push  their  antagonists  along  the  base, 
but  even  to  tear  them  up  a little.  For  similar  reasons,  we 
disapprove  of  the  favourite  practice  of  many  artists  to 
make  the  angles  of  their  scarfings  acute,  as  in  fig.  19. 

This  often  causes  the  two  pieces  to  tear  each  other  up 
The  abutments  should  always  be  perpendicular  to  the  di- 
rections of  the  pressures.  Lest  it  should  be  forgotten  in 
its  proper  place,  we  may  extend  this  injunction  also  to 
the  abutments  of  different  pieces  of  a frame,  and  recom- 
mend it  to  the  artist  even  to  attend  to  the  shrinking  of 
the  timbers  by  drying.  When  two  timbers  abut  obliquely, 
the  joint  should  be  most  full  at  the  obtuse  angle  of  the 
end ; because,  by  drying,  that  angle  grows  more  obtuse, 
and  the  beam  would  then  be  in  danger  of  splintering  off 
at  the  acute  angle. 

It  is  evident  that  the  nicest  work  is  indispensably  ne-We  must 
cessary  in  building  up  a beam.  The  parts  must  abut  on  not  wedge 
each  other  completely,  and  the  smallest  play  or  void  takes  t0° 
away  the  whole  efficacy.  It  is  usual  to  give  the  butting 
joints  a small  taper  to  one  side  of  the  beam,  so  that  they 
may  require  moderate  blows  of  a maul  to  force  them  in ; 
and  the  joints  may  be  perfectly  close  when  the  external 
surfaces  are  even  on  each  side  of  the  beam.  But  we  must 
not  exceed  in  the  least  degree,  for  a very  taper  wedge 
has  great  force ; and  if  we  have  driven  the  pieces  toge- 
ther by  very  heavy  blows,  we  leave  the  whole  in  a state 
of  violent  strain,  and  the  abutments  are  perhaps  ready  to 
splinter  off’ by  a small  addition  of  pressure.  This  is  like 
too  severe  a proof  for  artillery;  which,  though  not  suffi- 
cient to  burst  the  pieces,  has  weakened  them  to  such  a 


150 


CARPENTR  Y. 


Carpentry,  degree,  that  the  strain  of  ordinary  service  is  sufficient  to 
complete  the  fracture.  The  workman  is  tempted  to  ex- 
ceed in  this,  because  it  smooths  off  and  conceals  all  un- 
even seams ; but  he  must  be  watched.  It  is  not  unusual 
to  leave  some  abutments  open  enough  to  admit  a thin 
wedge  reaching  through  the  beam.  Nor  is  this  a bad 
practice,  if  the  wedge  is  of  material  which  is  not  com- 
pressed by  the  driving  or  the  strain  of  service.  Iron  would 
be  preferable  for  this  purpose,  and  for  the  joggles,  were  it 
not  that,  by  its  too  great  hardness,  it  cripples  the  fibres 
of  timber  to  some  distance.  In  consequence  of  this  it 
often  happens,  that  in  beams  which  are  subjected  to  de- 
sultory and  sudden  strains  (as  in  the  levers  of  reciprocat- 
ing engines),  the  joggles  or  wedges  widen  the  holes,  and 
work  themselves  loose ; therefore  skilful  engineers  never 
admit  them,  and  indeed  as  few  bolts  as  possible,  for  the 
same  reason ; but  when  resisting  a steady  or  dead  pull, 
they  are  not  so  improper,  and  are  frequently  used. 

Beams  are  built  up,  not  only  to  increase  their  dimen- 
sions in  the  direction  of  the  strain  (which  we  have  hither- 
to called  their  depth),  but  also  to  increase  their  breadth, 
or  the  dimensions  perpendicular  to  the  strain.  We  some- 
times double  the  breadth  of  a girder  which  is  thought  too 
weak  for  its  load,  and  where  we  must  not  increase  the 
thickness  of  the  flooring. 

Building  The  mast  of  a great  ship  of  war  must  be  made  bigger 
of  masts,  athwartship,  as  well  as  fore  and  aft.  This  is  one  of  the 
nicest  problems  of  the  art;  and  professional  men  are  by 
no  means  agreed  in  their  opinions  about  it.  We  do  not 
presume  to  decide,  and  shall  content  ourselves  with  exhi- 
biting the  different  methods. 

The  most  obvious  and  natural  method  is  that  shown  in 
fig.  20.  It  is  plain  that  (independent  of  the  connection 
of  cross  bolts,  which  are  used  in  them  all  when  the  beams 
are  square)  the  piece  C cannot  bend  in  the  direction  of 
the  plane  of  the  figure  without  bending  the  piece  D along 
Method  w'th  it.  This  method  is  much  used  in  the  French  navy ; 
used  in  the  but  it  is  undoubtedly  imperfect.  Hardly  any  two  great 
trees  are  of  equal  quality,  and  swell  or  shrink  alike.  If 
C shrinks  more  than  D,  the  feather  of  C becomes  loose  in 
the  groove  wrought  in  D to  receive  it;  and  when  the 
beam  bends,  the  parts  can  slide  on  each  other  like  the 
plates  of  a coach-spring ; and  if  the  bending  is  in  the  di- 
rection cf  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  this  sliding  but  the 
bolts,  which  soon  work  themselves  loose  in  the  bolt-holes. 

Fig.  21  exhibits  another  method.  The  two  halves  of 
the  beam  are  tabled  into  each  other  in  the  same  manner 
as  in  fig.  17.  It  is  plain  that  this  will  not  be  affected  by 
the  unequal  swelling  or  shrinking,  because  this  is  insen- 
sible in  the  direction  of  the  fibres ; but  when  bent  in  the 
direction  a b,  the  beam  is  weaker  than  fig.  20  bent  in  the 
direction  cf.  Each  half  of  fig.  20  has,  in  every  part  of  its 
length,  a thickness  greater  than  half  the  thickness  of  the 
beam.  It  is  the  contrary  in  the  alternate  portions  of  the 
halves  of  fig.  21.  When  one  of  them  is  bent  in  the  di- 
rection AB,  it  is  plain  that  it  drags  the  other  with  it  by 
means  of  the  cross  butments  of  its  tables,  and  there  can 
be  no  longitudinal  sliding.  But  unless  the  work  is  accu- 
rately executed,  and  each  hollow  completely  filled  up  by 
the  table  of  the  other  piece,  there  will  be  a lateral  slide 
along  the  cross  joints  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the  cur- 
vature ; and  this  will  hinder  the  one  from  compressing  or 
stretching  the  other  in  conformity  to  this  curvature. 

The  imperfection  of  this  method  is  so  obvious  that  it 
has  seldom  been  practised ; but  it  has  been  combined 
with  the  other,  as  is  represented  in  fig.  22,  where  the 
beams  are  divided  along  the  middle,  and  the  tables  in 
each  half  are  alternate,  and  alternate  also  with  the  tables 
of  the  other  half.  Thus  1,  3,  4,  are  prominent,  and  5,  2,  6, 
are  depressed.  This  construction  evidently  puts  a stop  to 


French 

navy. 


Another 

method. 


Its  imper- 
fection. 


both  slides,  and  obliges  every  part  of  both  pieces  to  move  Carpentry, 
together,  a b and  cd  show  sections  of  the  built-up  beam  ■'Y"'-"' 
corresponding  to  AB  and  CD. 

No  more  is  intended  in  this  practice  by  any  intelligent 
artist,  than  the  causing  the  two  pieces  to  act  together  in 
all  their  parts,  although  the  strains  may  be  unequally  dis- 
tributed on  them.  Thus,  in  a built-up  girder,  the  binding 
joists  are  frequently  mortised  into  very  different  parts  of 
the  two  sides.  But  many  seem  to  aim  at  making  the  beam 
stronger  than  if  it  were  of  one  piece  ; and  this  inconsider- 
ate project  has  given  rise  to  many  whimsical  modes  of  ta- 
bling and  scarfing,  which  we  need  not  regard. 

The  practice  in  the  British  dock-yards  is  somewhat  dif-  British  me. 
ferent  from  any  of  these  methods.  The  pieces  are  tabled  th°d. 
as  in  fig.  22,  but  the  tables  are  not  thin  parallelopipeds, 
but  thin  prisms.  The  two  outward  joints  or  visible  seams 
are  straight  lines,  and  the  table  No.  1 rises  gradually  to 
its  greatest  thickness  in  the  axis.  In  like  manner,  the 
hollow,  5,  for  receiving  the  opposite  table,  sinks  gradually 
from  the  edge  to  its  greatest  depth  in  the  axis.  Fig.  23, 

No.  1,  represents  a section  of  a round  piece  of  timber 
built  up  in  this  way,  where  the  full  line  EFGH  is  the 
section  corresponding  to  AB  of  fig.  22,  and  the  dotted 
line  EGFH  is  the  section  corresponding  to  CD. 

This  construction,  by  making  the  external  seam  straight, 
leaves  no  lodgment  for  water,  and  looks  much  fairer  to  the 
eye ; but  it  appears  to  us  that  it  does  not  give  so  firm  a 
hold  when  the  mast  is  bent  in  the  direction  EH.  The 
exterior  parts  are  most  stretched  and  most  compressed  by 
this  bending;  but  there  is  hardly  any  abutment  in  the  ex- 
terior parts  of  these  tables.  In  the  very  axis,  where  the 
abutment  is  the  firmest,  there  is  little  or  no  difference  of 
extension  and  compression. 

But  this  construction  has  an  advantage,  which,  we  ima- 
gine, much  more  than  compensates  for  these  imperfec- 
tions, at  least  in  the  particular  case  of  a round  mast;  it 
will  draw  together  by  hooping  incomparably  better  than 
any  of  the  others.  If  the  cavity  be  made  somewhat  too 
shallow  for  the  prominence  of  the  tables,  and  if  this  be 
done  uniformly  along  the  whole  length,  it  will  make  a 
somewhat  open  seam ; and  this  opening  can  be  regulated 
with  the  utmost  exactness  from  end  to  end  by  the  plane. 

The  heart  of  those  vast  trunks  is  very  sensibly  softer  than 
the  exterior  circles ; therefore,  when  the  whole  is  hooped, 
and  the  hoops  hard  driven,  and  at  considerable  intervals 
between  each  spell,  we  are  confident  that  all  may  be  com- 
pressed till  the  seam  disappears ; and  then  the  whole 
makes  one  piece,  much  stronger  than  if  it  were  an  original 
log  of  that  size,  because  the  middle  has  become,  by  com- 
pression, as  solid  as  the  crust,  which  was  naturally  firmer, 
and  resisted  farther  compression.  We  verified  this  be- 
yond a doubt  by  hooping  a built  stick  of  a timber  which 
has  this  inequality  of  firmness  in  a remarkable  degree,  and 
it  was  nearly  twice  as  strong  as  another  of  the  same  size. 

Our  mast-makers  are  not  without  their  fancies  andwhims; 
and  the  manner  in  which  our  masts  and  yards  are  gene- 
rally built  up  is  not  near  so  simple  as  fig.  23 ; but  it  con- 
sists of  the  same  essential  parts,  acting  in  the  very  same 
manner,  and  derives  all  its  efficacy  from  the  principles 
which  are  here  employed. 

This  construction  is  particularly  suited  to  the  situation  Attended 
and  office  of  a ship’s  mast.  It  has  no  bolts;  or,  at  least,  with  pecu- 
none  of  any  magnitude,  or  that  make  very  important  parts liar  advan* 
of  its  construction.  The  most  violent  strains  perhaps  ta^es‘ 
that  it  is  exposed  to,  is  that  of  twisting,  when  the  lower 
yards  are  close  braced  up  by  the  force  of  many  men  act- 
ing by  a long  lever.  This  form  resists  a twist  with  pecu- 
liar energy  ; it  is  therefore  an  excellent  method  for  build- 
ing up  a great  shaft  for  a mill.  The  way  in  which  they 
are  usually  built  up  is  by  reducing  a central  log  to  a poly-? 


CARPENTRY. 


151 


Carpentry,  gonal  prism,  and  then  filling  it  up  to  the  intended  size  by 
^ ■'Y'*-'  •planting  pieces  of  timber  along  its  sides,  either  spiking 
them  down,  or  cocking  them  into  it  by  a feather,  or  jog- 
gling them  by  slips  of  hard  wood  sunk  into  the  central 
log  and  into  the  slips.  N.B.  Joggles  of  elm  are  sometimes 
used  in  the  middle  of  the  large  tables  of  masts ; and  when 
sunk  into  the  firm  wood  near  the  surface,  they  must  con- 
tribute much  to  the  strength.  But  it  is  very  necessary  to 
employ  wood  not  much  harder  than  the  pine,  otherwise  it 
will  soon  enlarge  its  bed,  and  become  loose,  for  the  tim- 
ber of  these  large  trunks  is  very  soft. 

The  most  general  reason  for  piecing  a beam  is  to  in- 
crease its  length.  This  is  frequently  necessary,  in  order 
to  procure  tie-beams  for  very  wide  roofs.  Two  pieces 
must  be  scarfed  together.  Numberless  are  the  modes  of 
doing  this,  and  almost  every  master  carpenter  has  his  fa- 
vourite nostrum.  Some  of  them  are  very  ingenious ; but 
here,  as  in  other  cases,  the  most  simple  are  commonly 
Various  the  strongest.  We  do  not  imagine  that  any,  the  most  in- 
methods  ofgenious,  is  equally  strong  with  a tie  consisting  of  two 
scarfing,  pieces  of  the  same  scantling  laid  over  each  other  for  a 
certain  length,  and  firmly  bolted  together.  We  acknow- 
ledge that  this  will  appear  an  artless  and  clumsy  tie-beam, 
but  we  only  say  that  it  will  be  stronger  than  any  that  is 
more  artificially  made  up  of  the  same  thickness  of  timber. 
This,  we  imagine,  will  appear  sufficiently  certain. 

The  simplest  and  most  obvious  scarfing,  after  the  one 
now  mentioned,  is  that  represented  in  fig.  24,  No.  1 and  2. 
If  considered  merely  as  two  pieces  of  wood  joined,  it  is 
plain  that,  as  a tie,  it  has  but  half  the  strength  of  an  en- 
tire piece,  supposing  that  the  bolts  (which  are  the  only 
connections)  are  fast  in  their  holes.  No.  2 requires  a 
bolt  in  the  middle  of  the  scarf  to  give  it  that  strength, 
and  in  every  other  part  is  weaker  on  one  side  or  the  other. 
(See  Note  HH.) 

But  the  bolts  are  very  apt  to  bend  by  the  violent  strain, 
and  require  to  be  strengthened  by  uniting  their  ends  by 
iron  plates ; in  which  case  it  is  no  longer  a wooden  tie. 
The  form  of  No.  1 is  better  adapted  to  the  office  of  a pil- 
lar than  No.  2,  especially  if  its  ends  be  formed  in  the 
manner  shown  in  the  elevation  No.  3.  By  the  sally  given 
to  the  ends,  the  scarf  resists  an  effort  to  bend  it  in  that 
direction.  Besides,  the  form  of  No.  2 is  unsuitable  for  a 
post ; because  the  pieces,  by  sliding  on  each  other  by  the 
pressure,  are  apt  to  splinter  off  the  tongue  which  confines 
their  extremity. 

Fig.  25  and  26  exhibit  the  most  approved  form  of  a 
scarf,  whether  for  a tie  or  for  a post.  The  key  represent- 
ed in  the  middle  is  not  essentially  necessary ; the  two 
pieces  might  simply  meet  square  there.  This  form,  with- 
out a key,  needs  no  bolts  (although  they  strengthen  it 
greatly) ; but,  if  worked  very  true  and  close,  and  with 
square  abutments,  will  hold  together,  and  will  resist  bend- 
ing in  any  direction.  But  the  key  is  an  ingenious  and  a 
very  great  improvement,  and  will  force  the  parts  together 
with  perfect  tightness.  The  same  precaution  must  be  ob- 
served that  we  mentioned  on  another  occasion,  not  to  pro- 
duce a constant  internal  strain  on  the  parts  by  overdriv- 
ing the  key.  The  form  of  fig.  25  is  by  far  the  best ; be- 
cause the  triangle  of  26  is  much  easier  splintered  off  by 
the  strain,  or  by  the  key,  than  the  square  wood  of  25.  It 
is  far  preferable  for  a post,  for  the  reason  given  when 
speaking  of  fig.  24,  No.  1 and  No.  2.  Both  may  be  form- 
ed with  a sally  at  the  ends  equal  to  the  breadth  of  the  key. 
In  this  shape  fig.  25  is  vastly  well  suited  for  joining  the 
parts  of  the  long  corner  posts  of  spires  and  other  wooden 
towers.  Fig.  25,  No.  2,  differs  from  No.  1 only  by  having 
three  keys.  The  principal  and  the  longitudinal  strength 
are  the  same.  The  long  scarf  of  No.  2,  tightened  by  the 
three  keys,  enables  it  to  resist  a bending  much  better. 


None  of  these  scarfed  tie-beams  can  have  more  than  Carpentry, 
one  third  of  the  strength  of  an  entire  piece,  unless  with 
the  assistance  of  iron  plates  ; for  if  the  key  be  made  thin- 
ner than  one  third,  it  has  less  than  one  third  of  the  fibres 
to  pull  by. 

We  are  confident,  therefore,  that  when  the  heads  of  the 
bolts  are  connected  by  plates,  the  simple  form  of  fig.  24, 

No.  1,  is  stronger  than  those  more  ingenious  scarfings.  It 
may  be  strengthened  against  lateral  bending  by  a little 
tongue,  or  by  a sally,  but  cannot  have  both. 

The  strongest  of  all  methods  of  piecing  a tie-beam 
would  be  to  set  the  parts  end  to  end,  and  grasp  them  be- 
tween other  pieces  on  each  side,  as  in  fig.  27,  Plate  CL. 

This  is  what  the  ship-carpenter  calls  fishing  a beam,  and  Fishing  a 
is  a frequent  practice  for  occasional  repairs.  M.  Perronet  beam, 
used  it  for  the  tie-beams  or  stretchers,  by  which  he  con- 
nected the  opposite  feet  of  a centre,  which  was  yielding 
to  its  load,  and  had  pushed  aside  one  of  the  piers  above 
four  inches.  Six  of  these  not  only  withstood  a strain  of 
1800  tons,  but,  by  wedging  behind  them,  he  brought  the 
feet  of  the  truss  2J  inches  nearer.  The  stretchers  were 
14  inches  by  11  of  sound  oak,  and  could  have  withstood 
three  times  that  strain.  M.  Perronet,  fearing  that  the 
great  length  of  the  bolts  employed  to  connect  the  beams 
of  these  stretchers  would  expose  them  to  the  risk  of  bend- 
ing, scarfed  the  two  side  pieces  into  the  middle  piece. 

The  scarfing  was  of  the  triangular  kind  ( Trait  de  Jupiter ), 
and  only  an  inch  deep,  each  face  being  two  feet  long,  and 
the  bolt  passed  through  close  to  the  angle. 

In  piecing  the  pump-rods  and  other  wooden  stretchers 
of  great  engines,  no  dependence  is  had  on  scarfing ; and 
the  engineer  connects  every  thing  by  iron  straps.  We 
doubt  the  propriety  of  this,  at  least  in  cases  where  the 
bulk  of  the  wooden  connection  is  not  inconvenient.  These 
observations  must  suffice  for  the  methods  employed  for 
connecting  the  parts  of  a beam ; and  we  now  proceed  to 
consider  what  are  more  usually  called  the  joints  of  a piece 
of  carpentry. 

Where  the  beams  stand  square  with  each  other,  and  the  Square 
strains  are  also  square  with  the  beams,  and  in  the  plane  ofjoints. 
the  frame,  the  common  mortise  and  tenon  is  the  most  per- 
fect junction.  A pin  is  generally  put  through  both,  in 
order  to  keep  the  pieces  united,  in  opposition  to  any  force 
which  tends  to  part  them.  Every  carpenter  knows  how 
to  bore  the  hole  for  this  pin,  so  that  it  shall  draw  the  te- 
non tight  into  the  mortise,  and  cause  the  shoulder  to  butt 
close,  and  make  neat  work ; and  he  knows  the  risk  of  tear- 
ing out  the  bit  of  the  tenon  beyond  the  pin,  if  he  draw  it 
too  much.  We  may  just  observe,  that  square  holes  and 
pins  are  much  preferable  to  round  ones  for  this  purpose, 
bringing  more  of  the  wood  into  action,  with  less  tendency 
to  split  it.  The  ship-carpenters  have  an  ingenious  method  Fox-tail 
of  making  long  wooden  bolts,  which  do  not  pass  complete- wedging, 
ly  through,  take  a very  fast  hold,  though  not  nicely  fitted 
to  their  holes,  which  they  must  not  be,  lest  they  should  be 
crippled  in  driving.  They  call  it  fox-tail  wedging.  They 
stick  into  the  point  of  the  bolt  a very  thin  wedge  of  hard 
wood,  so  as  to  project  a proper  distance  ; when  this  reaches 
the  bottom  of  the  hole  by  driving  the  bolt,  it  splits  the 
end  of  it,  and  squeezes  it  hard  to  the  side.  This  may  be 
practised  with  advantage  in  carpentry.  If  the  ends  of  the 
mortise  are  widened  inwards,  and  a thin  wedge  be  put  into 
the  end  of  the  tenon,  it  will  have  the  same  effect,  and 
make  the  joint  equal  to  a dove-tail.  But  this  risks  the 
splitting  the  piece  beyond  the  shoulder  of  the  tenon,  which 
would  be  unsightly.  This  may  be  avoided  as  follows : Let 
the  tenon  T,  fig.  28,  have  two  very  thin  wedges  a and  c 
struck  in  near  its  angles,  projecting  equally ; at  a very 
small  distance  within  these,  put  in  two  shorter  ones  b,  d, 
and  more  within  these  if  necessary.  In  driving  this  tenon. 


CARPENTR  Y. 


152 

Carpentry,  the  wedges  a and  c will  take  first,  and  split  off  a thin  slice, 
which  will  easily  bend  without  breaking.  The  wedges  b, 
d,  will  act  next,  and  have  a similar  effect,  and  the  others 
in  succession.  The  thickness  of  all  the  wedges  taken  to- 
gether must  be  equal  to  the  enlargement  of  the  mortise 
towards  the  bottom. 

When  the  strain  is  transverse  to  the  plane  of  the  two 
beams,  the  principles  laid  down  in  No.  85,  86,  of  the 
article  Strength  of  Materials,  will  direct  the  artist 
in  placing  his  mortise.  Thus  the  mortise  in  a girder  for 
receiving  the  tenon  of  a binding  joist  of  a floor  should  be 
as  near  the  upper  side  as  possible,  because  the  girder  be- 
comes concave  on  that  side  by  the  strain.  But  as  this  ex- 
poses the  tenon  of  the  binding-joist  to  the  risk  of  being 
torn  off,  we  are  obliged  to  mortise  farther  down.  The 
form  (fig.  29)  generally  given  to  this  joint  is  extremely 
judicious.  The  sloping  part  a b gives  a very  firm  support 
to  the  additional  bearing  e d,  without  much  weakening  of 
the  girder.  This  form  should  be  copied  in  every  case 
where  the  strain  has  a similar  direction. 

Oblique  The  joint  that  most  of  all  demands  the  careful  attention 

mortiseand  of  the  artist,  is  that  which  connects  the  ends  of  beams, 

tenon'  one  of  which  pushes  the  other  very  obliquely,  putting  it 
into  a state  of  extension.  The  most  familiar  instance  of 
this  is  the  foot  of  a rafter  pressing  on  the  tie-beam,  and 
thereby  drawing  it  away  from  the  other  wall.  When  the 
direction  is  very  oblique  (in  which  case  the  extending 
strain  is  the  greatest),  it  is  difficult  to  give  the  foot  of  the 
rafter  such  a hold  of  the  tie-beam  as  to  bring  many  of  its 
fibres  into  the  proper  action.  There  would  be  little  diffi- 
culty if  we  could  allow  the  end  of  the  tie-beam  to  project 
to  a small  distance  beyond  the  foot  of  the  rafter ; but,  in- 
deed, the  dimensions  which  are  given  to  tie-beams  for 
other  reasons,  are  always  sufficient  to  give  enough  of  abut- 
ment when  judiciously  employed.  Unfortunately  this 
joint  is  much  exposed  to  failure  by  the  effects  of  the  wea- 
ther. It  is  much  exposed,  and  frequently  perishes  by  rot, 
or  becomes  so  soft  and  friable  that  a very  small  force  is 
sufficient  either  for  pulling  the  filaments  out  of  the  tie- 
beam,  or  for  crushing  them  together.  We  are  therefore 
obliged  to  secure  it  with  particular  attention,  and  to  avail 
ourselves  of  every  circumstance  of  construction. 

One  is  naturally  disposed  to  give  the  rafter  a deep  hold 
by  a long  tenon ; but  it  has  been  frequently  observed  in 
old  roofs  that  such  tenons  break  off.  Frequently  they  are 
observed  to  tear  up  the  wood  that  is  above  them,  and  push 
their  way  through  the  end  of  the  tie-beam.  This  in  all 
probability  arises  from  the  first  sagging  of  the  roof,  by  the 
compression  of  the  rafters  and  of  the  head  of  the  king-post. 
The  head  of  the  rafter  descends;  the  angle  with  the  tie- 
beam  is  diminished  by  the  rafter  revolving  round  its  step 
in  the  tie-beam.  By  this  motion  the  heel  or  inner  angle 
of  the  rafter  becomes  a fulcrum  to  a very  long  and  power- 
ful lever  much  loaded.  The  tenon  is  the  other  arm,  very 
short ; and  being  still  fresh,  it  is  therefore  very  powerful. 
It  therefore  forces  up  the  wood  that  is  above  it,  tearing 
it  out  from  between  the  cheeks  of  the  mortise,  and  then 
pushes  it  along.  Carpenters  have  therefore  given  up 
long  tenons,  and  give  to  the  toe  of  the  tenon  a shape  which 
abuts  firmly,  in  the  direction  of  the  thrust,  on  the  solid 
bottom  of  the  mortise,  which  is  well  supported  on  the  un- 
der side  by  the  wall-plate.  This  form  has  the  further  ad- 
vantage of  having  no  tendency  to  tear  up  the  end  of  the 
mortise.  This  form  is  represented  in  fig.  30.  The  tenon 
has  a small  portion  ab  cut  perpendicular  to  the  surface  of 
the  tie-beam,  and  the  rest  be  is  perpendicular  to  the  raf- 
ter. (See  Note  CC.) 

But  if  the  tenon  is  not  sufficiently  strong  (and  it  is  not 
so  strong  as  the  rafter,  which  is  thought  not  to  be  stronger 
than  is  necessary),  it  will  be  crushed,  and  then  the  raf- 


ter will  shade  out  along  the  surface  of  the  beam.  It  is  Carpentry, 
therefore  necessary  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  the  whole  ''■“'"v'-w' 
rafter.  It  is  in  this  distribution  of  the  strain  among  the 
various  abutting  parts  that  the  varieties  of  joints  and  their 
merits  chiefly  consist.  It  would  be  endless  to  describe 
every  nostrum,  and  we  shall  only  mention  a few  that  are 
most  generally  approved  of. 

The  aim  in  fig.  31  is  to  make  the  abutments  exactly  Most  ap. 
perpendicular  to  the  thrusts.  (See  Note  CC.)  It  doesProved 
this  very  precisely;  and  the  share  which  the  tenon  and^orms- 
the  shoulder  have  of  the  whole  may  be  what  we  please, 
by  the  portion  of  the  beam  that  we  notch  down.  If  the 
wall-plate  lie  duly  before  the  heel  of  the  rafter,  there  is 
no  risk  of  straining  the  tie  across  or  breaking  it,  because 
the  thrust  is  made  to  direct  to  that  point  where  the  beam 
is  supported.  The  action  is  the  same  as  against  the 
joggle  on  the  head  or  foot  of  a king-post.  We  have  no 
doubt  but  that  this  is  a very  effectual  joint.  It  is  not, 
however,  much  practised.  It  is  said  that  the  sloping  seam 
at  the  shoulder  lodges  water  ; but  the  great  reason  seems 
to  be  a secret  notion  that  it  weakens  the  tie-beam.  If 
we  consider  the  direction  in  which  it  acts  as  a tie,  we 
must  acknowledge  that  this  form  takes  the  best  method 
for  bringing  the  whole  of  it  into  action. 

Fig.  32  exhibits  a form  that  is  more  general,  but  cer- 
tainly worse.  Such  part  of  the  thrust  as  is  not  borne  by 
the  tenon  acts  obliquely  on  the  joint  of  the  shoulder, 
and  gives  the  whole  a tendency  to  rise  up  and  slide  out- 
ward. 

The  shoulder  joint  is  sometimes  formed  like  the  dotted 
line  abedefg  of  fig.  32.  This  is  much  more  agreeable  to 
the  true  principle,  and  would  be  a very  perfect  method, 
were  it  not  that  the  intervals  bd  and  df  are  so  short  that 
the  little  wooden  triangles  bed,  def,  will  be  easily  pushed 
off  their  bases  bd,  df. 

Fig.  33,  No.  1,  seems  to  have  the  most  general  appro- 
bation. It  is  the  joint  recommended  by  Price,  and  copied 
into  all  books  of  carpentry  as  the  true  joint  for  a rafter 
foot.  The  visible  shoulder-joint  is  flush  with  the  upper 
surface  of  the  tie-beam.  The  angle  of  the  tenon  at  the 
tie  nearly  bisects  the  obtuse  angle  formed  by  the  rafter 
and  the  beam,  and  is  therefore  somewhat  oblique  to  the 
thrust.  The  inner  shoulder  ac  is  nearly  perpendicular  to 
bd.  The  lower  angle  of  the  tenon  is  cut  off  horizontally, 
as  at  ed.  Fig.  34  is  a section  of  the  beam  and  rafter  foot, 
showing  the  different  shoulders. 

We  do  not  perceive  the  peculiar  merit  of  this  joint. 

The  effect  of  the  three  oblique  abutments,  ab,  ac,  ed,  is 
undoubtedly  to  make  the  whole  bear  on  the  outer  end  of 
the  mortise,  and  there  is  no  other  part  of  the  tie-beam 
that  makes  immediate  resistance.  Its  only  advantage 
over  a tenon  extending  in  the  direction  of  the  thrust  is, 
that  it  will  not  tear  up  the  wood  above  it.  Had  the  inner 
shoulder  had  the  form  eci,  having  its  face  ic  perpendicular, 
it  would  certainly  have  acted  more  powerfully  in  stretch- 
ing many  filaments  of  the  tie-beam,  and  would  have  had 
much  less  tendency  to  force  out  the  end  of  the  mortise. 

The  little  bit  ci  would  have  prevented  the  sliding  upwards 
along  ec.  At  any  rate,  the  joint  ab  being  flush  with  the 
beam,  prevents  any  sensible  abutment  on  the  shoulder  ac. 

Fig.  33,  No.  2,  is  a simpler,  and  in  our  opinion  a prefer- 
able, joint.  We  observe  it  practised  by  the  most  eminent 
carpenters  for  all  oblique  thrusts;  but  it  surely  employs 
less  of  the  cohesion  of  the  tie-beam  than  might  be  used 
without  weakening  it,  at  least  when  it  is  supported  on  the 
pther  side  by  the  wall-plate. 

Fig.  33,  No.  3,  is  also  much  practised  by  the  first  car- 
penters. 

Fig.  35,  No.  1,  is  proposed  by  Mr  Nicholson  as  prefer- 
able .to  fig.  33,  No.  3,  because  the  abutment  of  the  inner 


CARPENTRY. 


153 


. Carpentry. part  is  better  supported.  This  is  certainly  the  case;  but 
it  supposes  the  whole  rafter  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 
socket,  and  the  beam  to  be  thicker  than  the  rafter.  Some 
may  think  that  this  will  weaken  the  beam  too  much,  when 
it  is  no  broader  than  the  rafter  is  thick;  in  which  case 
they  think  that  it  requires  a deeper  socket  than  Nichol- 
son has  given  it.  Perhaps  the  advantages  of  Nicholson’s 
construction  may  be  had  by  a joint  like  fig.  35,  No.  2. 
Cireum-  Whatever  is  the  form  of  these  butting  joints,  great  care 
stance  to  should  be  taken  that  all  parts  bear  alike;  and  the  artist 
ed  tQten<*'  W‘M  attend  to  the  magnitude  of  the  different  surfaces.  In 
the  general  compression,  the  greater  surfaces  will  be  less 
compressed,  and  the  smaller  will  therefore  change  most. 
When  all  has  settled,  every  part  should  be  equally  close. 
Because  great  logs  are  moved  with  difficulty,  it  is  very 
troublesome  to  try  the  joint  frequently  to  see  how  the 
parts  fit;  therefore  we  must  expect  less  accuracy  in  the 
interior  parts.  This  should  make  us  prefer  those  joints 
whose  efficacy  depends  chiefly  on  the  visible  joint. 

It  appears  from  all  that  we  have  said  on  this  subject, 
that  a very  small  part  of  the  cohesion  of  the  tie-beam  is 
sufficient  for  withstanding  the  horizontal  thrust  of  a roof, 
even  though  very  low  pitched.  If  therefore  no  other  use 
is  made  of  the  tie-beam,  one  much  slenderer  may  be  used, 
and  blocks  may  be  firmly  fixed  to  the  ends,  on  which  the 
rafters  might  abut,  as  they  do  on  the  joggles  on  the  head 
and  foot  of  a king-post.  Although  a tie-beam  has  com- 
monly floors  or  ceilings  to  carry,  and  sometimes  the  work- 
shops and  store-rooms  of  a theatre,  and  therefore  requires 
a great  scantling,  yet  there  frequently  occur  in  machines 
and  engines  very  oblique  stretchers,  which  have  no  other 
office,  and  are  generally  made  of  dimensions  quite  inade- 
quate to  their  situation,  often  containing  ten  times  the  ne- 
cessary quantity  of  timber.  It  is  therefore  of  importance 
to  ascertain  the  most  perfect  manner  of  executing  such  a 
joint.  We  have  directed  the  attention  to  the  principles 
that  are  really  concerned  in  the  effect.  In  all  hazardous 
cases,  the  carpenter  calls  in  the  assistance  of  iron  straps ; 
and  they  are  frequently  necessary,  even  in  roofs,  notwith- 
standing this  superabundant  Strength  of  the  tie-beam. 
But  this  is  generally  owing  to  bad  construction  of  the 
wooden  joint,  or  to  the  failure  of  it  by  time.  Straps  will 
be  considered  in  their  place. 

There  needs  but  little  to  be  said  of  the  joints  at  a jog- 
gle worked  out  of  solid  timber ; they  are  not  near  so  diffi- 
cult as  the  last.  When  the  size  of  a log  will  allow  the 
joggle  to  receive  the  whole  breadth  of  the  abutting  brace, 
it  ought  certainly  to  be  made  with  a square  shoulder ; or, 
which  is  still  better,  an  arch  of  a circle,  having  the  other 
end  of  the  brace  for  its  centre.  (See  Note  EE.)  Indeed 
this  in  general  will  not  sensibly  differ  from  a straight  line 
perpendicular  to  the  brace.  By  this  circular  form,  the 
settling  of  the  roof  makes  no  change  in  the  abutment ; 
but  when  there  is  not  sufficient  stufl’  for  this,  we  must 
avoid  bevel  joints  at  the  shoulders,  because  these  always 
tend  to  make  the  brace  slide  off.  The  brace  in  fig.  36, 
No.  1,  must  not  be  joined  as  at  b,  but  as  at  a,  or  in  some 
equivalent  manner.  Observe  the  joints  at  the  head  of  the 
main  posts  of  Drury  Lane  theatre,  fig.  44,  Plate  CLII. 
Butting  When  the  very  oblique  action  of  one  side  of  a frame  of 
joints.  carpentry  does  not  extend,  but  compress,  the  piece  on 
which  it  abuts  (as  in  fig.  11),  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the 
joint.  Indeed  a joining  is  unnecessary,  and  it  is  enough 
that  the  pieces  abut  on  each  other ; and  we  have  only  to 
take  care  that  the  mutual  pressure  be  equally  borne  by  all 
the  parts,  and  that  it  do  not  produce  lateral  pressures, 
which  may  cause  one  of  the  pieces  to  slide  on  the  butting 
joint.  A very  slight  mortise  and  tenon  is  sufficient  at  the 
joggle  of  a king-post  with  a rafter  or  straining  beam.  It 
is  best,  in  general,  to  make  the  butting  plain,  bisecting  the 


angle  formed  by  the  sides,  or  else  perpendicular  to  one  of  Carpentry, 
the  pieces.  In  fig.  36,  No.  2,  where  the  straining  beam, 
ab,  cannot  slip  away  from  the  pressure,  the  joint  a is 
preferable  to  b,  or  indeed  to  any  uneven  joint,  which 
never  fails  to  produce  very  unequal  pressures  on  the  dif- 
ferent parts,  by  which  some  are  crippled,  others  are  splin- 
tered off,  &c. 

When  it  is  necessary  to  employ  iron  straps  for  strength- Directions 
ening  a joint,  considerable  attention  is  necessary,  that  wef°r  placing 
may  place  them  properly.  The  first  thing  to  be  deter- lron  straPs- 
mined  is  the  direction  of  the  strain.  This  is  learned  by 
the  observations  in  the  beginning  of  this  article.  We  must 
then  resolve  this  strain  into  a strain  parallel  to  each  piece, 
and  another  perpendicular  to  it.  Then  the  strap  which 
is  to  be  made  fast  to  any  of  the  pieces  must  be  so  fixed 
that  it  shall  resist  in  the  direction  parallel  to  the  piece. 
Frequently  this  cannot  be  done ; but  we  must  come  as 
near  to  it  as  we  can.  In  such  cases  we  must  suppose 
that  the  assemblage  yields  a little  to  the  pressures  which 
act  on  it.  We  must  examine  what  change  of  shape  a 
small  yielding  will  produce.  We  must  now  see  how  this 
will  affect  the  iron  strap  which  we  have  already  suppos- 
ed attached  to  the  joint  in  some  manner  that  we  thought 
suitable.  This  settling  will  perhaps  draw  the  pieces 
away  from  it,  leaving  it  loose  and  unserviceable  (this  fre- 
quently happens  to  the  plates  which  are  put  to  secure  the 
obtuse  angles  of  butting  timbers,  when  their  bolts  are  at 
some  distance  from  the  angles,  especially  when  these  plates 
are  laid  on  the  inside  of  the  angles)  ; or  it  may  cause  it  to 
compress  the  pieces  harder  than  before,  in  which  case  it 
is  answering  our  intention.  But  it  may  be  producing  cross 
strains,  which  may  break  them,  or  it  may  be  crippling  them. 

We  can  hardly  give  any  general  rules  ; but  the  reader  will 
do  well  to  read  what  is  written  in  No.  36  and  41  of  the 
article  Roof.  In  No.  36  he  will  see  the  nature  of  the  strap 
or  stirrup,  by  which  the  king-post  carries  the  tie-beam. 

The  strap  that  we  observe  most  generally  ill  placed  is  that 
which  connects  the  foot  of  the  rafter  with  the  beam.  It 
only  binds  down  the  rafter,  but  does  not  act  against  its 
horizontal  thrust.  It  should  be  placed  farther  back  on  the 
beam,  with  a bolt  through  it,  which  will  allow  it  to  turn 
round.  It  should  embrace  the  rafter  almost  horizontally 
near  the  foot,  and  should  be  notched  square  with  the  back 
of  the  rafter.  Such  a construction  is  represented  in  fig.  37. 

By  moving  round  the  eye-bolt,  it  follows  the  rafter,  and 
cannot  pinch  and  cripple  it,  which  it  always  does  in  its 
ordinary  form.  We  are  of  opinion  that  straps  which 
have  eye-bolts  in  the  very  angles,  and  allow  all  motion 
round  them,  are  of  all  the  most  perfect.  A branched  strap, 
sucli  as  may  at  once  bind  the  king-post  and  the  two  braces 
which  butt  on  its  foot,  will  be  more  serviceable  if  it  have 
a joint.  When  a roof  warps,  those  branched  straps  fre- 
quently break  the  tenons,  by  affording  a fulcrum  in  one  of 
their  bolts.  An  attentive  and  judicious  artist  will  consi- 
der how  the  beams  will  act  on  such  occasions,  and  will 
avoid  giving  rise  to  these  great  strains  by  levers.  A skil- 
ful carpenter  never  employs  many  straps,  considering 
them  as  auxiliaries  foreign  to  his  art,  and  subject  to  im- 
perfections in  workmanship  which  he  cannot  discern  or 
amend.  We  must  refer  the  reader  to  Nicholson’s  Car- 
penter and  Joiner  s Assistant  for  a more  particular  account 
of  the  various  forms  of  stirrups,  screwed  rods,  and  other 
iron  work  for  carrying  tie-beams,  &c. 

As  for  those  that  are  necessary  for  the  turning  joints  of 
great  engines  constructed  of  timber,  they  make  no  part  of 
the  art  of  carpentry.  (See  Note  II.) 

After  having  attempted  to  give  a systematic  view  of  Examples 
the  principles  of  framing  carpentry,  we  shall  conclude  by  ot'ditferent 
giving  some  examples  which  will  illustrate  and  confirm  pieces  ot 
the  foregoing  principles.  carpentry. 


154 


CARFEN  T R Y. 


Carpentry. 


ltoof  of 

Greenwich 

chapeL 


St  Paul’s, 

Covent 

Garden. 


Birming- 

ham 

theatre. 


Fig.  38,  Plate  CLI.  is  the  roof  of  the  chapel  of  the 
Royal  Hospital  at  Greenwich,  constructed  by  Mr  S.  Wyatt. 

Inches 

Scantling. 

A A is  the  tie-beam,  57  feet  long,  spanning  51 


feet  clear 14  by  12 

CC,  queen-posts 9 X 12 

D,  braces 9 X 7 

E,  straining  beam 10  X 7 

F,  straining  piece 6 X 7 

G,  principal  rafters 10  X 7 

H,  a cambered  beam  for  the  platform 9 X 7 

B,  an  iron  string,  supporting  the  tie-beam 2 X 2 


The  trusses  are  seven  feet  apart,  and  the  whole  is  co- 
vered with  lead,  the  boarding  being  supported  by  horizon- 
tal ledgers  h,  h,  of  six  by  four  inches. 

This  is  a beautiful  roof,  and  contains  less  timber  than 
most  of  its  dimensions.  The  parts  are  all  disposed  with 
great  judgment.  Perhaps  the  iron  rod  is  unnecessary, 
but  it  adds  great  stillness  to  the  whole. 

The  iron  straps  at  the  rafter  feet  would  have  had  more 
effect  if  not  so  oblique.  Those  at  the  head  of  the  post 
are  very  effective. 

We  may  observe,  however,  that  the  joints  between  the 
straining  beam  and  its  braces  are  not  of  the  best  kind,  and 
tend  to  bruise  both  the  straining  beam  and  the  truss  beam 
above  it. 

Fig.  39,  the  roof  of  St  Paul’s,  Covent  Garden,  designed 
by  Mr  Hardwick,  and  constructed  by  Mr  Wapshot  in  1796. 
AA,  tie-beam  spanning  fifty  feet  two  inches...  16  X 12 


BB,  queen-posts 9 X 8 

C,  straining  beam 10  X 8 

D,  king-post  (fourteen  at  the  joggle) 9X8 

EE,  struts 8 X 71 

FF,  auxiliary  rafters  (at  bottom) 10  X 8| 

HH,  principal  rafter  (at  bottom) 10  x 8-1 

gg,  studs  supporting  the  rafter 8 X 8 


The  trusses  are  about  ten  feet  six  inches  apart,  and  the 
dotted  lines  in  the  middle  compartment  show  the  manner 
in  which  the  roof  is  framed  under  the  cupola. 

This  roof  far  excels  the  original  one  put  up  by  Inigo 
Jones.  One  of  its  trusses  contains  198  feet  of  timber. 
One  of  the  old  roof  had  273,  but  had  many  inactive  tim- 
bers, and  others  ill  disposed.  The  internal  truss  FCF  is 
admirably  contrived  for  supporting  the  exterior  rafters, 
without  any  pressure  on  the  far  projecting  ends  of  the 
tie-beam.  The  former  roof  had  bent  them  greatly,  so  as 
to  appear  ungraceful.  (See  Note  KK.) 

We  think  that  the  camber  (six  inches)  of  the  tie-beam 
is  rather  hurtful,  because,  by  settling,  the  beam  lengthens ; 
and  this  must  be  accompanied  by  a considerable  sinking  of 
the  roof.  This  will  appear  by  calculation.  (See  Note  LL.) 

Fig.  43,  Plate  CLII.  the  roof  of  Birmingham  theatre,  con- 
structed by  Mr  George  Saunders.  The  span  is  eighty 
feet  clear,  and  the  trusses  are  ten  feet  apart. 


A is  an  oak  corbel 9X5 

B,  inner  plate 9x9 

C,  wall-plate 8 X 51 

D,  pole-plate 7X5 

E,  tie-beam 15  X 15 

F,  straining  beam 12X9 

G,  oak  king-post  (in  the  shaft) 9 X 9 

H,  oak  queen-post  (in  the  shaft) 7x9 

I,  principal  rafters 9x9 

K,  common  ditto 4 X 21 

L,  principal  braces 9 and  6X9 

M,  common  ditto 6X9 

N,  purlins 7X5 

Q,  straining  sill 51  X 9 

S,  ridge  piece 


This  roof  is  a fine  specimen  of  British  carpentry,  and  is  Carpentry, 
one  of  the  boldest  and  lightest  roofs  in  Europe.  The 
straining  sill,  Q,  gives  a firm  abutment  to  the  principal 
braces,  and  the  space  between  the  posts  is  191  feet  wide, 
affording  roomy  workshops  for  the  carpenters  and  other 
workmen  connected  with  a theatre.  The  contrivance 
for  taking  double  hold  of  the  wall,  which  is  very  thin,  is 
excellent.  There  is  also  added  a beam  (marked  R),  bolt- 
ed down  to  the  tie-beams.  The  intention  of  this  was  to 
prevent  the  total  failure  of  so  bold  a trussing,  if  any  of  the 
tie-beams  should  fail  at  the  end  by  rot. 

Akin  to  this  roof  is  fig.  44,  Plate  CLII.  the  roof  of  Drury- Drury- 
Lane  theatre,  eighty  feet  three  inches  in  the  clear,  and  Lane 
the  trusses  fifteen  feet  apart,  constructed  by  Edward  Grey  theatre* 
Saunders. 


A,  beams 10  by  7 

B,  rafters 7x7 

C,  king-posts 12  X 7 

D,  struts 5 X 7 

E,  purlins 9x5 

G,  pole-plates 5X5 

H,  gutter  plates  framed  into  the  beams 12  X 6 

I,  common  rafters 5 X 4 

K,  tie-beam  to  the  main  truss 15  X 12 

L,  posts  to  ditto 15  X 12 

M,  principal  braces  to  ditto 14  and  12  X 12 

N,  struts 8 X 12 

P,  straining  beams 12  X 12 


The  main  beams  are  trussed  in  the  middle  space  with 
oak  trusses  five  inches  square.  This  was  necessary  for 
its  width  of  thirty-two  feet,  occupied  by  the  carpenters, 
painters,  &c.  The  great  space  between  the  trusses  afford 
good  store-rooms,  dressing-rooms,  &c. 

It  is  probable  that  this  roof  has  not  its  equal  in  the 
world  for  lightness,  stiffness,  and  strength.  The  main 
truss  is  so  judiciously  framed,  that  each  of  them  will  safe- 
ly bear  a load  of  three  hundred  tons ; so  it  is  not  likely 
that  they  will  ever  be  quarter  loaded.  The  division  of  the 
whole  into  three  parts  makes  the  exterior  roofings  very 
light.  The  strains  are  admirably  kept  from  the  walls,  and 
the  walls  are  even  firmly  bound  together  by  the  roof. 

They  also  take  off  the  dead  weight  from  the  main  truss 
one  third. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  perceive  that  all  these  roofs  .Remarks, 
are  on  one  principle,  depending  on  a truss  of  three  pieces 
and  a straight  tie-beam.  This  is  indeed  the  great  prin- 
ciple of  a truss,  and  is  a step  beyond  the  roof  with  two 
rafters  and  a king-post.  It  admits  of  much  greater  variety 
of  forms,  and  of  greater  extent.  We  may  see  that  even 
the  middle  part  may  be  carried  to  any  space,  and  yet  be 
flat  at  top;  for  the  truss-beam  maybe  supported  in  the 
middle  by  an  inverted  king-post  (of  timber,  not  iron),  car- 
ried by  iron  or  wooden  ties  from  its  extremities ; and  the 
same  ties  may  carry  the  horizontal  tie-beam  K ; for  till 
K be  torn  asunder,  or  M,  M,  and  P be  crippled,  nothing 
can  fail. 

The  roof  of  St  Martin’s  church  in  the  Fields  is  con- 
structed on  good  principles,  and  every  piece  properly  dis- 
posed. But  although  its  span  does  not  exceed  forty  feet 
from  column  to  column,  it  contains  more  timber  in  a truss 
than  there  is  in  one  of  Drury-Lane  theatre.  The  roof  of 
the  chapel  at  Greenwich,  that  of  St  Paul’s,  Covent-Gar- 
den, those  of  Birmingham  and  Drury-Lane  theatres,  form 
a series  gradually  more  perfect.  Such  specimens  afford 
excellent  lessons  to  the  artist.  We  therefore  account 
them  a useful  present  to  the  public. 

There  is  a very  ingenious  project  offered  to  the  public  Project  by 
by  Mr  P.  Nicholson.  ( Carpenters  Assistant,  p.  68.)  HeMrNi- 
proposes  iron  rods  for  king-posts,  queen-posts,  and  all  cholson. 


CARPENTRY. 


Carpentry,  other  situations  where  beams  perform  the  office  of  ties. 

He  receives  the  feet  of  the  braces  and  struts  in  a socket 
very  well  connected  with  the  foot  of  his  iron  king-post ; 
and  he  secures  the  feet  of  his  queen-posts  from  being 
pushed  inwards,  by  interposing  a straining  sill.  He  does 
not  even  mortise  the  foot  of  his  principal  rafter  into  the 
end  of  the  tie-beam,  but  sets  it  in  a socket  like  a shoe,  at 
the  end  of  an  iron  bar,  which  is  bolted  into  the  tie-beam 
a good  way  back.1  All  the  parts  are  formed  and  disposed 
with  the  precision  of  a person  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  subject;  and  we  have  not  the  smallest  doubt  of  the 
success  of  the  project,  and  the  complete  security  and  du- 
rability of  his  roofs.  We  abound  in  iron ; but  we  must 
send  abroad  for  building  timber.  This  is  therefore  a va- 
luable project;  at  the  same  time,  however,  let  us  not  over- 
rate its  value.  Iron  is  about  twelve  times  stronger  than 
red  fir,  and  is  more  than  twelve  times  heavier ; nor  is  it 
cheaper,  weight  for  weight,  or  strength  for  strength. 

Our  illustrations  and  examples  have  been  chiefly  taken 
from  roofs,  because  they  are  the  most  familiar  instances 
of  the  difficult  problems  of  the  art.  We  could  have  wish- 
ed for  more  room  even  on  this  subject.  The  construction 
of  dome  roofs  has  been,  we  think,  mistaken,  and  the  dif- 
ficulty is  much  less  than  is  imagined ; we  mean  in  re- 
spect of  strength ; for  we  grant  that  the  obliquity  of  the 
joints,  and  a general  intricacy,  increases  the  trouble  of 
Wooden  workmanship  exceedingly.  Wooden  bridges  form  another 
bridges.  class  equally  difficult  and  important;  but  our  limits  are 
already  overpassed,  and  will  not  admit  them.  The  prin- 
ciple on  which  they  should  all  be  constructed,  without  ex- 
ception, is  that  of  a truss,  avoiding  all  lateral  bearings  on 
any  of  the  timbers.  In  the  application  of  this  principle 
we  must  further  remark,  that  the  angles  of  our  truss  should 
be  as  acute  as  possible ; therefore  we  should  make  it  of 
as  few  and  of  as  long  pieces  as  we  can,  taking  care  to 
prevent  the  bending  of  the  truss  beams  by  bridles,  which 
embrace  them,  but  without  pressing  them  to  either  side. 
When  the  truss  consists  of  many  pieces,  the  angles  are 
very  obtuse,  and  the  thrusts  increase  nearly  in  the  dupli- 
cate proportion  of  the  number  of  angles. 

Framing  of  With  respect  to  the  frames  of  carpentry  which  occur 
great  le-  in  engines  and  great  machines,  the  varieties  are  such  that 
vers.  it  would  require  a volume  to  treat  of  them  properly.  The 
principles  are  already  laid  down ; and  if  the  reader  be 
really  interested  in  the  study,  he  will  engage  in  it  with 
seriousness,  and  cannot  fail  of  being  instructed.  We  re- 
commend to  his  consideration,  as  a specimen  of  what  may 
be  done  in  this  way,  the  working  beam  of  Hornblower's 
steam-engine.  (See  Steam-Engine.)  When  the  beam 
must  act  by  chains  hung  from  the  upper  end  of  arch-heads, 
the  framing  there  given  seems  very  scientifically  con- 
structed; at  the  same  time  we  think  that  a strap  of 
wrought  iron  reaching  the  whole  length  of  the  upper  bar 
(see  the  figure)  would  be  vastly  preferable  to  those  par- 
, tial  plates  which  the  engineer  has  put  there,  for  the  bolts 
will  soon  work  loose. 

But  when  arches  are  not  necessary,  the  form  employed 
by  Mr  Watt  is  vastly  preferable,  both  for  simplicity  and 
for  strength.  It  consists  of  a simple  beam,  AB  (fig.  45, 
Plate  CLII.),  having  the  gudgeon,  C,  on  the  upper  side. 
The  two  piston  rods  are  attached  to  wrought-iron  joints,  A 
and  B.  Two  strong  struts,  DC,  EC,  rest  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  gudgeon,  and  carry  an  iron  string,  ADEB, 
consisting  of  three  pieces,  connected  with  the  struts  by 
proper  joints  of  wrought  iron.  A more  minute  descrip- 
tion is  not  needed  for  a clear  conception  of  the  principle. 
No  part  of  this  is  exposed  to  a cross  strain  ; even  the  beam 


155 

AB  might  be  sawed  through  at  the  middle.  The  iron  Carpentry, 
string  is  the  only  part  which  is  stretched ; for  AC,  DC, 

EC,  BC,  are  all  in  a state  of  compression.  We  have  made 
the  angles  equal,  that  all  may  be  as  great  as  possible,  and 
the  pressure  on  the  struts  and  strings  a minimum.  Mr 
Watt  makes  them  much  lower,  as  AcfeB,  or  AdsB.  But 
this  is  for  economy,  because  the  strength  is  almost  insu-* 
perable.  It  might  be  made  with  wooden  strings  ; but  the 
workmanship  of  the  joints  would  more  than  compensate 
the  cheapness  of  the  materials. 

We  offer  this  article  to  the  public  with  deference,  and 
we  hope  for  an  indulgent  reception  of  our  essay  on  a sub- 
ject which  is  in  a manner  new,  and  would  require  much 
study.  We  have  bestowed  our  chief  attention  on  the 
strength  of  the  construction,  because  it  is  here  that  per- 
sons of  the  profession  have  the  most  scanty  information. 

We  beg  them  not  to  consider  our  observations  as  too  re- 
fined, and  that  they  will  study  them  with  care.  One  prin- 
ciple runs  through  the  whole  ; and  when  that  is  clearly 
conceived  and  familiar  to  the  mind,  we  venture  to  say  that 
the  practitioner  will  find  it  of  easy  application,  and  that  he 
will  improve  every  performance  by  a continual  reference 
to  it. 

iv. — NOTES. 

A A,  p.  158.  This  rule  may  be  somewhat  more  accu- 
rately expressed  in  these  words : From  the  point  at  which 
any  three  forces  meet  and  balance  each  other,  draw  a line 
in  the  actual  direction  of  any  one  of  them,  and  from  the 
extremity  of  this  line  draw  two  others,  parallel  to  the  di- 
rections of  the  other  two  forces  respectively ; then  sup- 
posing the  pieces  affording  these  two  forces  to  be  produ- 
ced indefinitely  at  their  remoter  ends,  either  of  them  which 
is  cut  by  one  of  the  two  lines  will  be  compressed,  and  act 
as  a brace,  and  either  of  them  which  is  not  cut  will  be 
stretched,  and  act  as  a tie. 

BB,  p.  159.  It  is,  however,  difficult  to  imagine  how  the 
beam  DA  can  furnish  a force  iA,  to  prevent  the  force  A f 
from  carrying  the  beam  BA  towards  H,  when  DA  only 
affords  a repulsive  abutment.  The  true  resolution  of  the 
force  AE  is  found  by  considering  the  intersection  of  GE 
with  Ae,  which  are  the  directions  of  the  separate  forces 
composing  it:  these  lines  meeting  in  a point  a little  above 
r,  we  may  call  their  intersection  r* : then  in  the  triangle 
AEr*.  the  side  Ar*  will  represent  the  pressure  on  the 
mitred  joint,  and  r*E  the  pressure  on  the  beam  HD;  and 
the  former  being  again  resolved  into  AG  and  Gr*,  we  have 
ultimately  AG  and  G r*  + r*E  = GE  = AF,  for  the  ho- 
rizontal and  vertical  forces,  however  they  may  be  modi- 
fied by  intermediate  combinations. 

CC,  p.  160.  The  reasoning  contained  in  this  and  some 
of  the  subsequent  articles  may  serve  as  an  approximation 
to  the  truth  in  many  cases  of  common  occurrence  ; but 
the  supposition  on  which  it  is  founded  is  by  no  means 
generally  admissible  as  affording  a result  mathematically 
accurate  ; for,  in  reality,  the  distribution  of  the  weight  of 
a roof  over  the  whole  extent  of  the  rafters,  or  the  concen- 
tration of  the  whole  weight  in  the  point  where  they  meet, 
is  far  from  being  an  indifferent  alternative,  either  with  re- 
spect to  the  magnitude  of  the  thrusts,  or  to  the  proper  di- 
rections of  tlTe  abutments  or  joints.  In  the  case  here  dis- 
cussed, where  there  is  no  king-post,  it  is  clear  that  the 
centre  of  gravity  of  the  whole  roof  must  be  much  nearer 
to  the  middle  of  the  figure  than  the  angular  point,  and 
that  consequently  the  weights  supported  by  the  two  walls 
will  be  very  different  from  those  which  would  be  support- 


1 See  figures  40,  41,  42,  Plate  CLI.  and  Mr  Nicholson’s  work,  p.  68,  where  these  figures  are  particularly  described. 


156 


CARPENTRY. 


Carpentry,  ed  if  the  whole  load  were  placed  at  the  summit ; although, 
where  there  is  a heavy  king-post,  supporting  also,  as  it 
ought  to  do,  about  half  the  weight  of  the  tie-beam,  with 
its  floors  or  ceiling,  the  case  will  approach  much  nearer  to 
the  supposition  here  assumed. 

For  a common  light  roof,  without  a king-post,  the  cal- 
culation or  construction  is  very  simple.  When  two  rafters 
only  meet  at  the  summit,  they  must  support  each  other  by 
a horizontal  thrust  (see  Art.  Bridge,  Prop.  Y) ; and  this 
thrust,  acting  on  each  rafter  as  a lever,  of  which  the  lower 
end  is  the  fulcrum,  must  be  equivalent  to  the  weight,  act- 
ing at  the  horizontal  distance  of  the  centre  of  gravity  from 
the  fulcrum,  which  is  a quarter  of  the  whole  span  ; conse- 
quently the  thrust  must  be  to  the  weight  as  a quarter  of 
the  span  to  the  height,  and  the  compound  oblique  thrust 
on  the  abutment  will  be  represented  by  the  hypotenuse 
of  the  triangle  of  which  those  lines  are  the  sides  ; so  that 
if  we  had  a roof  of  the  same  height,  and  of  half  the  breadth, 
the  direction  of  its  rafters  would  exactly  represent  the 
actual  direction  of  the  compound  thrust  on  the  end  of  the 
tie-beam,  and  would  consequently  indicate  the  proper  form 
for  the  abutment  of  the  given  structure. 

But  in  the  case  of  the  unequal  rafters  represented  in 
the  figure,  the  determination  becomes  more  complicated, 
and  we  must  first  find  the  direction  cf  the  mutual  thrust 
of  the  rafters,  wdiich  must  evidently  be  such,  that  the  per- 
pendiculars falling  on  it  from  each  end  of  the  tie-beam 
may  be  in  the  inverse  proportion  of  the  motive  powers  of 
the  weights  of  the  rafters,  that  is,  of  the  products  of  those 
weights  into  the  horizontal  distances  of  the  centres  of 
gravity  from  the  respective  fulcrums,  or  into  the  segments 
of  the  tie-beam  made  by  a vertical  line  passing  through 
the  summit,  which  are  proportional  to  these  distances ; 
and  if  we  produce  the  base  of  the  triangle,  and  find  in  it 
a point,  of  which  the  distance  is  to  the  length  of  the  tie- 
beam  as  the  smaller  product  to  the  difference  of  the  pro- 
ducts, a line  drawn  from  the  summit  to  this  point  will  show 
the  true  direction  of  the  thrust ; and  its  magnitude  may 
then  be  readily  determined  by  dividing  either  of  the  pro- 
ducts by  the  respective  perpendicular  falling  on  this  line. 

Where,  however,  there  is  a king-post  supporting  a heavy 
tie-beam,  it  is  necessary  to  determine  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  the  half  roof,  together  with  this  addition ; and  the  dis- 
tance of  the  centre  of  gravity  from  the  middle  will  then 
be  to  the  half  span,  as  the  weight  of  one  of  the  rafters  with 
its  load  is  to  the  weight  of  the  whole  roof,  including  the 
tie-beam  and  ceiling;  and  if  we  erect  a perpendicular  pass- 
ing through  the  centre  of  gravity  thus  found,  and  equal  to 
the  height,  the  oblique  thrust  on  the  abutment  will  be  in 
the  direction  of  the  line  joining  the  upper  end  of  this  per- 
pendicular and  the  end  of  the  tie-beam. 

DD,  p.  162.  In  order  to  obtain  a distinct  idea  of  the  ope- 
ration of  the  forces  concerned  in  this  experiment,  we  must 
have  recourse  to  proposition  C of  this  article,  and  substitute 
in  the  formula  for  the  deflection 


7 - 7 / M 

d-at^Uf 
_ 8 _ 1 

a - f - 6720  - 840’ 


/ I6f  e\ 

TANG-  VWa} 

M = 1,900,000  pounds,  the 


specific  gravity  of  fir  being  *56,  f — 6720,  and  e — 6, 
the  middle  of  the  pillar  being  considered  as  the  fixed 
16/'  e 

point : we  then  find  • - = 1*427,  which  is  the  length 


of  an  arc  of  81°  45',  and  the  tangent  becomes  6*9,  whence 
we  have  d=  -j-  X 4*2  X 6*9  = *0345,  or  somewhat  more 
than  the  thirtieth  of  an  inch  : consequently  the  strength 


must  have  been  reduced  in  the  proportion  of  1*207  to  1.  Carpentry. 
(Art.  Bridge,  Prop.  E.)  But  considering  how  near  the 
arc  thus  determined  approaches  to  a quadrant,  it  is  obvi- 
ous that  any  slight  variations  of  the  quantities  concerned 
in  the  calculation  must  have  greatly  affected  the  magnitude 
of  the  tangent ; so  that  the  loss  of  strength  may  easily 
have  been  considerably  greater  than  this,  as  it  appears  to 
have  been  found  in  the  experiment.  It  would,  however, 
scarcely  have  been  expected  that  such  a pillar,  however 
supported,  could  withstand  the  pressure  of  ninety  hun- 
dredweight, since  Emerson  informs  us  that  the  cohesive 
strength  of  a pillar  of  fir  an  inch  in  diameter  is  only  about 
thirty-five:  but  supposing  the  facts  correct,  the  coincidence 
tends  to  show  the  near  approach  to  equality  of  the  forces 
of  cohesion  and  lateral  adhesion,  as  explained  in  the  in- 
troduction to  this  article. 

EE,  p.  163.  A similar  remark  of  the  author  has  already 
been  noticed  in  the  article  Bridge,  at  the  end  of  the  fifth 
section.  In  the  form  in  which  it  is  here  expressed,  it  be- 
comes still  more  objectionable ; for  with  whatever  part  of 
a circular  abutment  a rafter  equal  to  the  radius  may  be 
brought  into  contact,  it  is  very  plain  that  its  opposite  end 
can  never  be  either  higher  or  lower  than  the  original  cen- 
tre of  curvature : and  even  if  the  curvature  were  made 
twice  as  great,  so  that  the  rafter  might  be  equal  to  the  dia- 
meter of  the  circle,  it  would  be  necessary  that  the  lower  end 
should  slide  upwards  on  the  abutment  as  much  as  the  up- 
per end  fell,  in  order  to  preserve  the  contact ; and  there 
would  obviously  be  no  force  in  the  structure  capable  of 
producing  such  a change  as  this.  Any  general  curvature 
of  the  joint  must  therefore  be  totally  useless;  but  a judi- 
cious workman  will  make  it  somewhat  looser  below  than 
above,  when  there  is  any  probability  that  the  rafters  will 
sink,  taking  care,  however,  to  avoid  all  bearing  too  near 
the  surface,  lest  it  should  splinter,  and,  for  these  reasons 
combined,  making  the  end  a little  prominent  somewhat 
above  the  middle  of  the  surface  which  rests  on  the  abut- 
ment. 

With  this  precaution,  the  direction  of  the  joint  between 
a rafter  and  a tie-beam  ought  to  be  made  precisely  perpen- 
dicular to  the  true  thrust  of  the  rafter,  determined  as  al- 
ready explained  (Note  CC) ; for,  in  the  first  place,  unless 
we  trust  either  to  the  friction,  or  to  straps,  the  bearing 
cannot  be  more  nearly  horizontal  than  this,  without  danger 
of  the  rafters  sliding  outwards  ; and,  in  the  second  place,  if 
we  made  it  more  nearly  vertical,  we  should  lessen  the  verti- 
cal pressureon  the  end  of  the  tie-beam,  immediately  beyond 
the  joint ; a pressure  which  gives  firmness  to  the  wood, 
by  pressing  its  fibres  more  closely  together,  and  increas- 
ing their  lateral  adhesion,  or  rather  internal  friction.  If, 
however,  the  tie-beam  were  not  deep  enough  to  receive 
the  whole  of  the  rafter  so  terminated,  without  too  great  a 
reduction  of  its  depth,  it  would  be  proper  to  make  the  joint 
a little  flatter,  or  more  horizontal,  and  to  restrain  the  end 
from  sliding  upwards  by  an  iron  strap  fixed  in  a proper  di- 
rection. We  should  preserve  the  end  of  the  rafter  as  little 
diminished  in  breadth  as  possible,  when  the  tie-beam  is 
wide  enough  to  receive  it ; a moderate  thickness,  left  on 
each  side  of  the  mortise  in  the  tie-beam,  being  sufficient  to 
assist  in  securing  the  connection  of  the  ends  of  the  beam 
with  the  intermediate  parts. 

FF,  p.  163.  The  doctrine  of  the  initial  equality  of  the 
resistances  to  compression  and  extension,  as  stated  in  the 
article  Bridge,  enables  us  to  demonstrate  that  the  trans- 
verse strength  can  never  exceed  one  sixth  of  that  which 
would  be  derived  from  the  resistance  of  all  the  fibres, 
co-operating  at  the  distance  of  the  whole  depth  from  a fix- 
ed fulcrum,  and  acting  with  the  weaker  of  the  two  powers 
appropriate  to  the  body.  It  is  true  that  the  results  of 
some  direct  experiments  seem  to  favour  the  opinion  that 


CARPENTRY. 


157 


Carpentry,  the  cohesive  power  is  the  weaker ; but  where  the  flexure 
" ""v"— is  already  considerable,  it  is  probable  that  this  circumstance 
materially  diminishes  the  primitive  power  of  resisting  com- 
pression, so  that  the  principles  on  which  the  calculation 
proceeds  are  by  no  means  strictly  applicable  to  the  case 
of  a bar  so  broken. 

GG,  p.  164.  There  seems  to  be  a little  confusion  in 
the  idea  of  the  possibility  of  altering  the  nature  of  the  ac- 
tion of  the  fibres  of  a beam  by  altering  the  place  of  the 
gudgeon  in  this  manner  ; but  the  author  has  very  proper- 
ly abstained  from  making  any  practical  application  of  the 
supposed  modification  thus  introduced.  With  respect  to 
the  strength  required  for  scarfing  or  joggling,  it  may  be 
observed,  that  the  whole  of  the  compressed  fibres  of  the 
concave  side  may  be  considered  as  abutting  against  the 
whole  of  the  extended  fibres  on  the  convex  side  ; and  this 
abutment  is  equally  divided  throughout  the  length  of  the 
beam ; so  that  if  the  scarfings  or  joggles  in  the  whole 
length  of  the  arm  of  a lever,  taken  together,  are  as  strong 
as  one  half  of  the  depth  of  the  lever,  exerting  half  its 
powers,  from  the  inequality  of  tension  there  will  be  no 
danger  of  the  failing  of  these  joints  ; and  from  this  prin- 
ciple it  will  be  easy  to  determine  the  depth  to  which  the 
joints  ought  to  extend  in  any  particular  case.  Hence  also 
we  may  understand  how  a beam  may  become  so  short  as 
to  be  incapable  of  transverse  fracture  in  its  whole  extent ; 
for  the  lateral  adhesion  between  the  dilferent  fibres  of 
„ wood  is  generally  far  inferior  to  the  longitudinal  strength 

of  the  fibres  : and  if,  for  example,  it  were  only  one  fourth 
as  great,  a beam  less  than  twice  as  long  as  it  is  deep  would 
separate,  if  urged  in  the  middle  by  a transverse  force,  into 
two  strata,  from  its  incapacity  of  affording  sufficient  abut- 
ment, before  its  longitudinal  fibres  would  give  way. 

HH,  p.  166.  If  the  bolts  were  sufficiently  numerous 
and  sufficiently  firm,  so  as  to  produce  a great  degree  of 
adhesion  or  of  friction  between  the  parts,  this  joint  might 


be  made  almost  as  strong  as  the  entire  beam,  since  there  Carpentry, 
is  nothing  to  prevent  the  co-operation  of  each  side  with  ' 

the  other  throughout  its  extent ; but  much  of  the  strength 
would  be  lost  if  the  bolts  became  loose,  even  in  an  incon- 
siderable degree. 

II,  p.  169.  The  author  has  reasoned  upon  the  direction 
of  straps,  as  if  it  were  universally  necessary  to  economize 
their  immediate  strength  only,  without  regard  to  the  effect 
produced  on  the  tightness  of  the  joint ; but  it  may  happen 
that  the  principal  purpose  of  the  strap  will  be  answered 
by  its  pressing  the  rafter  firmly  upon  the  beam,  and  this 
effect  may  be  produced  by  a certain  deviation  from  the 
horizontal  position,  with  but  little  diminution  of  the 
strength  of  the  strap ; a deviation  which  has  also  the  ad- 
vantage of  allowing  the  strap  to  embrace  the  whole  of  the 
beam,  without  weakening  it  by  driving  a bolt  through  it. 

We  must  not,  however,  run  the  risk  of  crippling  the  end 
of  the  beam  ; and  the  straps  represented  in  fig.  38  may  be 
allowed  to  be  somewhat  too  erect. 

KK,  p.  169.  It  does  not  appear  to  be  desirable  that  the 
ends  of  the  rafters  should  be  supported  without  any  pres- 
sure on  the  ends  of  the  beams,  since  these  ends  would 
bear  a small  weight  without  any  danger  of  bending,  and 
would  thus  lessen  the  pressure  on  the  king-post. 

LL,  p.  169.  The  half  length  being  25  feet,  and  the 
camber  6 inches,  the  excess  of  the  oblique  length  will 
be  a/  625-25  — 25,  or  of  a foot,  that  is,  of  an  inch, 
which  is  all  that  the  beam  would  appear  to  lengthen  in 
sinking  ; nor  would  the  settling  of  the  roof  be  more  “ con- 
siderable” than  about  a quarter  of  an  inch.  But  there 
seems  to  be  no  advantage  in  this  deviation  of  the  tie-beam 
from  the  rectilinear  direction ; and  the  idea,  which  appears 
to  be  entertained  by  some  workmen,  that  a bent  beam 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  an  arch,  is  one  of  the  many  mis- 
chievous fallacies  which  it  is  the  business  of  the  mathe- 
matical theory  of  carpentry  to  dispel. 


ARCHITECTURE 


PLATE  LIT. 


■- 


The  Temple  of,  Ultima  'Parthenon  at  Athens 
l Xertli  -west  view.) 


In  its  present  state 


Restored 


PLATE  IJ 


A R C H I T E C T U R E . 


Fig.  8. 


Fig.  9. 


Fig.  10. 


h:  u .///' 


K„.,J  h <:  Alim.!* . 


■ ■■  ■ . ..  --- 


■*  gM1.  j « 


- ■ 


• - 


* ; .i  • - • . . . •-  ..-v;  •' 


' 


. 


: . ••  ■ r </' 

* 

' 

* 


PLATE  LVI 


ARCHITECTURE . 


Plan,  Section/  and  Elevations  of  the  Temphot'JpoUinepoUs  Mcupm  iruVpper Egypt . 


longitudhudy Section/ on  the  line-A.A.ot  Plan. 


W.  //.  del! 


Eho'*  !\ i <•  Aihn>in.Edi*  r 


. V ; 1 v •- 


. 


. 


ARCHITECTURE . 


PLATE  LVII. 


Flank  & Sectional  Elevation  of  a Greek  1)  eric  Peripteral  &Hy  peethral  Temple  . 
f Section/ on/  the  dotted,  lines'  of  Flan/  below J 


• •••••••••••••••• 


W.B.tUlP 


FUat/ of  w Greek-  Ortas  tyle  Teripleral  SHypatJinil  Temple 


Etui 'l ly  (•  AiA'Mti/t  ,Iuhn ' 


: $ : - 'x  \ u . - 


/■  * ‘ 


* 


■ 


r 


PLATE  LVUI. 


ARCHITECTURE. 


fzfl BL 


Ii0.ll. 


H’Ji.fi.-n 


Plan/  of  tv  Greek  J/oxa.s'nle-penpteml  »t-  Clsuhml  lorn  phi 


nil  n 


ARCHITECTURE. 


PLATE  LIX. 


I ' 


I’hiii  of  a finvk  /A'.iv/ /'/vm/iA*  /<•//// 


m 


ARCHITECTURE. 


PLATE  LX. 


Fill . 6. 


IV  //  ,M! 


/’i  t'< . lil’/nun  .IMi/i  f 


. :•« 


S K 


' ' t 


»■  ; * --  ' > 


' . 


. V ./  ' I ■ 


‘ 

* - . - . • 1 


A R C H I T E C T l R E . 


PLATE  LAI. 


Grecian. 


M O IT  L D IN  G S Roman 


Bend, 


1 


O R N A ME  N T 
(ire  cian. 


K o in  a n 


■ ..  ' A 


— i 


Fin.  /. 


Ex.  3. 


ARC  FI  ITECT lTRE. 

Extmiples  of  the,  Horn  an  Corinthian 

mmmmmmmF 


I1  LATE  LXIJ. 


\ 


Ex.  2. 


jtrouuuuuarjDi 

! j 

i ( 


ARCHITECTURE. 


PLATE  LXW. 


W.HJ/K 


I'.Ati m f>/t’s  of' the  Roman  Onfcrjt 


A li  ( H ITECTFR  E . 


PLATE  LTV. 


Plan  of  a.  Portion jfFaasion . with,  the  houses,  shops  S-  streets,  surroimdinp  it , 
from  Pomp  e i i . 


Sketch  of  the  Entrance  to  the  Jfei/isien  fFipfi.  2 S3  Jin  its  present  state. 


Fip.  6. 


Specimen  of  tire  mode  oforname/rti/ip  the  sides  of  rooms  in  Ponrpeit  . 


t — | 1 1 i |i — n~r 


Plan  et  a Form///  . Hans/on  in  <t  private  street . 
£ r o i n 1’ompe.i  i , 


Ftp.  2. 


Section,  of  the  ctirov&jJ/tinsion  flip-  lj  on  the  tine  a .a  . 


Fin.  3. 


ibppIpppi 


tin  trance  /deration  to  the  street  of ihnahove  Mansion  flip-  tj 


Fip.  7. 


Section  of  the  above  Mansion  flip.  ti.J 


on  the  tine  A.  A. 


l:/t  ratio//  to  the  street  o/' the  aleve  Mansion  / lip.  />■/ 


£ lit/ 1 /•//  Athttan . A',  tin  r 


\jierf-HWtdd\ 


fu/r/uirium 

< 'OTOTICL 

J/odtiUvris 


Jjcfttils 


'^db(t€7(,s' 

!<•////<■.  .T 

C \]ldicr.rtu,y 


/<  ' </ i <////<'/<' rs 


Eypofrach^hum 


/''/,>  < //< / //tr/tTx 


')  '//,////<•/<  /.  r 


Mi!  n 't  ;>n  'i  ?r  hj  / 


ARCHITECTURE. 


PL  A TE  LXVII . 


lur.dci'. 


Eva ,l  by  0.  Aiknuui . Edh 


/'LAT/;  LXV/II 


ARC  HITE  CTFRI 


Drawn  h/  J.  /’.  Il/<t  rr.  /:si/  T ArrJi  '. 


PLATE  LX  IX 


AR  ni  lTKCTFR  K. 


sT  p Am.'s 

/ South  Flank,  Elevation  . 


/ Yi'i'/h  I'lniik  Elevation  .) 


ICO 


.mo 


ARC  H I T KC  T i ll  K . 


PLATE 


Fig.  3. 


villa  Capra 

7UUZ7'  TrLCgJlZFL . 


.brawn  /'//  ■//'  ftSu&JSst/f .Irr/if 


I-’  A H N K S K !’  A I,  A ('  K K O M E 

front  r/xii'a/jon . 


LX. X . 


ARC  II  IT  EC  TIRE  . 


PLATE  A. 1-17  . 


/rch.  /bom.  the-J/dre  of  S/Alham’s  Adhei  C/rurch.  .Arches  from  a.  Chapel  isc  the 


f/rhite  Toner,  Dondon  . 


Alt/- 


Sussex . 


Door-iva,v  from  Iff  lev  Church,  Door-wav  lro7u  Ifflev  C/iurc/c,  Oxfords/ilrcs. 
Oxfordshire . 


IV  S/.,M' 


A'/hC*  fo/  U.lik/n.ut , A.'i/i/f  r 


' ; : ' • 

■ 


s>  . 


JShy 't  by  ( 


mn.dei* 


G Aik/n -in  Klin.? 


PLATE  LAX  III 


ARC  HITE C TURE. 


Sectionah  comp artLnent  of  * the  Nave  of  'Zinco  In  Gxthedral . 


ARCHITECT  U K E . /•/.. / n:  lxxiv. 


Jfiult  b it  O .lihna 


PLATE  LAA’V. 


ARCH  ITECTURE  . 


rymmnTirM;i 


sjr*  sju  s j. 


^SMSJr 


T'ff-  il- 


ly. JO. 


<1  '--—I- 

r v 

¥ 

\ T ~ ' 

/- S/  / 

j ' ,1 

U ' i T 

Lfi// 

> J 1 I 
\mr~~'  t"’ 

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i:  J ...  7 ...jf? 

- 

N 

1 ^ j 

_/• 

.h 

r ^ 

rn  n;  V'-'  " 

t‘”<  "_r"  r- 

> T ’T  ’TW 

f- 

B I I L I)  1 X (.  . 


ri.ATi:  cxxxm. 


Fig  .1 


1 

1 1 1 I I 

1 1 

rn rn rn rn 

1 

1 

1 

i i i,i  ,i  i 

1 

1 1 

i i i i i i i i i i i m 

1 

1 

1 

i V V n^ V n^ n 

1 

1 1 

11  II II  11  1 1 II  III 

1 

1 

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 



1 1 

< d » b c < e > * / 


English  TSoiui 


r 

Fig . ■ > . 

<j 


Flemish  Jtoiitl 


Fig  .4 . 


;«  : *.  ♦ : .5  i u! 


♦ 


Quoin  Stones 


* ___ 


Uncoursed  rubble  walling. 


Sill  o(‘ Sash,  frame 


t'Sas/t 

•ame 


Hearth 


Floor 


Wi\uU  Sill 


Chimney  breast 


Fn,.  /?, 

■■Ill 

m \ \ ■ 

§ 

WSSB, 

m « 

iiii  U 



IV//  iJ! 


Ena  ‘/be  Eel  lA/nan . /'Jut ' 


Fit,.  2(  K 


151  1 LI)  1 X a. 


Ft, ,.21. 


PLATE  C XXXVII I. 


Flooring  Joists  \VJ. 


Hi  nil  or 


i — i — i — i — i — s — r 

( i ll IIHI  Ji'l.s/s 


I'/ooriiui 


Joist*  h!>- -S 


w.n  .id' 


]}  r 1 LD  I X G . PLATE  rxxxfx. 

Fui.  29. 


r 

L 

i 

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J 

2K  4 . 


JSf?  3 . 


30 . 


PLATE  (XL. 


w.ir.dM 


Fig.  6. 


MASONRY. 


PLATE  CCCXLVI. 


Fig.  17. 


Fiig.  15. 


Fig.  16. 


Fig.  19. 


MASONRY 


PL  A TE  C CCAL  VII. 


Fiq.  26. 


Line,  of  Road,  wav 


$$gp8f 


MS 


Fig:  29. 


Fie/.  28. 


C 


B 


Fig.  27. 


Fiq.  23. 


'*  T.  TralgoLL.Ui'L1. 


Aikman,  Sculp' 


CARPENTRY. 


PLATE  (.MAH. 


CART ENTRY 


PLATE  ( ATM II. 


Fig.  10. 


CARPENTRY 


PLATE  CXLLX 


Fig.  21. 


A 


Fig.  IS. 


Fig.  24. w°.  3. 


Fig.  25.N91 . 


Fig.  25.  N?  2 . 


tinn'i  by  i 


C AR  PENTRY. 


PLATE  CL. 


Fuf.36.N91. 


Fig  .36. N?  2 . 


, ' .tikn 


CARPENTRY 


PLATE  ELI 


Fig . 38 . 


Fig  .39 . 


Fig  .40. 


Fig.  41. 


Fig.  42. 


-• 


CARPENTRY 


PLATE  CL II 


Fig.  4 3 . 


Fig. 44.. 


F 


x imiuiiii 

I 

1.  ■ ’ ■ • ■ • 

Fig.  45. 


v . .-7  , • 


; V 


' '/  < 


** 


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. 

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